Grey Dawn
by Gaia caecilia
Summary: Mithiliel is a young elleth at the beginning of the third age looking for her parents but finds many other things along the way. All chapters now written. Few more to post though. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Grey Dawn 1

Disclaimer_- I do not own Lord of the Rings, Middle Earth or any of that stuff, it all belongs to Tolkien. What belongs to me is any character you don't reacognise, any typo's or story mistakes and my student loan. I only write for my reader enjoyment and my own enjoyment (reviews my me feel popular!), please don't sue, all you will get is bad grammar and a large amount of repayments.

Prologue.

He and his brother snuck along through the night and closer to Lake Evendim and the settlement of the Elves there. They both sensed a presence they knew, that of the Princess Artanis, or Galadriel as she was generally known. They had not felt that presence since their childhoods when they were brutally forced from their homes to live in the wild. They had been taken and cared for by a small group of nomadic Elves and had become lost to the world they knew.

He had taken a wife from among this group and she was the mother of the child he carried in his arms. The group were leaving Arda now, though, and his wife had been killed in an attack on the group. It had been decided that the child should return to the race of his parents, though, and, since they had felt that familiar presence, the decision had resulted in them sneaking through the night to the dwelling of Galadriel.

His brother stood guard as he sneaked in to ensure the child was as near to Galadriel as possible and he left her there with a simple note, explaining her name and her origins to Galadriel. There was a cot with another young child, this time with pale blonde hair and features as extraordinarily beautiful as those of his own child. He placed his own daughter in the cot beside her and both infants opened their eyes momentarily before curling close to each other.

The dawn broke as they were a fair distance from the camp; the sounds of two infants crying reached their ears. One was recognisable as his daughter's cry. Soon both infants quietened down again, though by now, all in the area were awake.

He smiled sadly at having to leave his only child alone and hoped that she would be well looked after. He sent a prayer to Yavanna to care for her and to Estë to look after her as well, for his daughter was descended from one of her Maia.

The year 100 of the Third Age.

Today was the day the ruler of Imladris arrived. Mithiliel and Celebrian had heard of the Peredhil-Lord who had been the herald for High King Gil-galad, but neither had seen him. Mithiliel was curious for another reason, though. She was the only Elf in Lorien who had dark hair and she had heard that this Lord, a Noldor – unlike most of the Elves in Lorien, also had her dark hair.

Thankfully, her position as the daughter of Galadriel and Celeborn meant that both she and Celebrian would be with King Amroth's welcome party for the Lord of Imladris. Giggling, the pair dressed up for the welcome party, Celebrian in white and Mithiliel in the grey her name implied. Today, she was in a pale silver-blue grey while her sister was in a dress of blue tinted white; both dressed in velvet with a scoop-neck and a raised waist with only light embroidery decorating it.

It was early afternoon when their _Ada_ came to collect them and their mother to join the party in the Kings talan. As a Princess of the Noldor and a Prince of Doriath, the pair stood next to the King of Lorien with their daughters in front of them, held protectively. They waited for maybe half-an-hour before the Lord and his party entered the receiving talan.

The Lord _was_ dark-haired, he had dark-brown, almost black – just like hers was! In fact, most of Lord Elrond's party was dark-haired, bar the Golden Lord, who stood beside Elrond and truly lived up to his epithet. He was also armed to the teeth. Mithiliel then heard a quiet gasp beside her and turned her head to see her sister's lips curve into a speculative smile. The next gasp from Celebrian was because her sister had just shoved her elbow into her ribs.

XXX

That evening there was a welcome ball for the state party, where they could be more informally introduced than they had been that afternoon. Celebrian had spent the entire preparation time talking about the good looking _ellyn_ in the party, particularly Lord Elrond who was particularly fair for an Elf, his human heritage provided him with a broader build and a sturdier set of features than was common among Elves. Most Elves had delicate features and a willowy build that concealed a deceptive strength. There was no hidden strength in this ellon and his face had sharper angles with tempered muscle-strength clear in every move. Even with this harsher, stronger build, he still maintained elven beauty and this strange combination of mortal and immortal created a truly beautiful ellon.

Mithiliel laughed at her sister's monologue and the relative attributes of the new males and her gushing over the exoticness of Lord Elrond. Mithiliel felt no attraction to the Peredhil-Lord, just curiosity. She wanted to talk to the Lord alright and she had to admit he was unusually fair, but there was no spark.

Then again, Celebrian was always the one interested in the ellyn and always the one that got all the attention from the ellyn as well. Mithiliel was pretty sure most of the attention she got was because she was exotic looking rather than any real beauty. She didn't fall into the usual blonde hair, blue eyes description that all the other ellyth did, she had dark brown-black hair and grey eyes.

This night, both girls dressed in their respective white and grey, though this time they wore silk-satin that was light enough for dancing. Once again, the gowns were mostly unadorned, though Celebrian's was solid white and Mithiliel wore pearl-grey. Sometimes Mithiliel wished she could wear something other than grey for formal occasions, but with a name that meant 'grey heroine', grey was what she got put in every time. It was like grey was her colour. Why couldn't she wear blue sometimes? Or green?

XXX

"Lady Galadriel, well met! And these are your lovely daughters?" Lord Elrond asked as they waited for Celeborn to return with drinks. The half-Elf had come over to them with a politely curious expression on his face. Equally politely, they returned the greetings. After a small amount of small talk, he turned to Mithiliel with a slight frown.

"One wonders as to how you and Celeborn had a dark-haired child. I have noticed over the years that though dark-haired parents will occasionally have blonde children, but never have two pale-haired people had a dark-haired child. I have to admit to finding this curious." Galadriel looked at him for a few moments.

"Mithiliel is our adopted daughter, she was left in Celebrian's cradle as a little infant, shortly after she and my daughter had been weaned. They refused to be separated and since we could not find the parents, we adopted her and brought her up as our own. We love her as our own and have never felt the need to make any distinction between our daughter by blood and our adopted one." There seemed to be a tightness about how she said this and the last part seemed more aimed at Mithiliel than Elrond. Mithiliel was trying not to look surprised, never having heard this story before. She was not their blood daughter? As she looked at Galadriel, her eyes promised a long talk at the first opportunity.

Mithiliel faded into the background for the rest of the night, not wishing to be coerced into dancing when she suddenly had this to think about. Thankfully, Celebrian realised that she wanted to be left alone and left her to the side while she flirted with Elrond, as well as a few other members of his party.

XXX

It was the end of the visit and, to the general surprise of the Elves of Lorien, Mithiliel was going with them. When she had expressed an interest in going to visit Imladris, Elrond had invited her to return with him, as curious about her origins as she was. As she finished preparing, she zoned out Celebrian's latest monologue telling her to write and suchlike and thought back to the conversation that had followed the ball and sparked her sudden wanderlust.

"_You knew I was not your daughter and you never deigned to tell me? What I am then? Why am I so different?"_

"_We are not sure exactly who you are, though we are fairly sure that, like Elrond, you are part human though I am not sure of the exact percentages, Mith. Please don't be angry, we loved you as our own and never felt any need to tell you that you were not ours." Galadriel actually sounded sad._

"_You mean you felt no need to tell me why I was so different, the local freak? The one who only ever got looked at as different!" Mithiliel was angry beyond belief._

"_You are not a freak, Mith! You are our daughter and as you have now seen, far from the only one to appear as you do. We never realised how you felt about your appearance. It never occurred to us that you would find it so." This was Celeborn, though he sounded little more emotional than he usually did. It was almost like he was keeping something from her. There seemed to be the same thing about Galadriel. Mithiliel was sure there was much they were not telling her._

It was that surety and her desire to know who she is, who her parents were, and what her heritage was. Why was life so difficult all of a sudden? She would miss Celebrian and her parents, but she really needed to go. At least she wouldn't look different in Imladris.

She wrapped her grey cloak around her and swung onto the matching grey horse. She really did seem to be destined for the colour grey, even her horse was grey. She was not far behind Elrond in the party and as armed as everyone else, even the ellyth of Lorien were taught some basic self-defence skills, archery, and a certain amount of knife work.

All the same, she was in the middle group and protected. She had already said goodbye to her family but still turned and waved at them. They all waved back, though Celebrian still managed to bat her eyelids at Elrond a couple of times. She had, the previous night, told Mithiliel to pass on everything she could about the gossip of Imladris, though Mithiliel was planning on being a little selective. Elrond and Celebrian would make a good couple and it would mean she would have her sister with her in Imladris.

Not that she had priorities occasionally.

As the party went out of sight of the city, she smiled. It was the first time away from her family, but it felt good to be getting free and finding out about what had confused her for most of her life. It was a new chapter in her life and, Valar, she was going to enjoy it!


	2. Chapter 2

Grey dawn 2

She had been in Imladris for several months now and was well settled in. She would never admit it in her letters home how much more at home she felt here than in Lorien. Somehow, Imladris seemed much more suitable to her and she actually felt she belonged here.

Even so, she was working about getting Celebrian and Elrond together. She often gushed about her family, most often Celebrian, to Elrond commenting most on her virtues and attractive features. She did the same for Elrond in her letters home. Best of all, she had managed to find out that Elrond was beginning to consider taking a wife. Mithiriel was determined to be the sister of the Lady of Imladris.

She was writing another of her letters to Celebrian when Glorfindel walked in grinning like a loon. He had obviously just come from practice. The expression was one she had seen before when working with Erestor to find out about her family. It was one of mischief and usually preceded Glorfindel doing something very annoying. Glorfindel and Erestor were the best of friends, but Glorfindel did enjoy irritating his friend. Mith was immediately on her guard.

He sauntered over to her trying to look innocent, which just made her more cautious. Suddenly his hand shot out and touched her sides resulting in her squealing loudly and dropping what she was holding. Glorfindel laughed at her and bent down to pick up the letter she had dropped. She tried to take the letter off him, but he pulled it away and carried on reading.

"Glorfindel! Give it back." He laughed and moved away as she tried to grab it again.

"Hey, Mith, I didn't know you thought so well of our Lord. You wax most eloquent. Do you fancy him? I thought that was your sister who liked Elrond." Mithiriel glared at her friend.

"That's the point, Glorfindel, she and Elrond would make a cute couple. I'm not interested in him myself, you know, but Celebrian would make a proper Lady for Imladris. Don't you think so?" As she had been speaking, Glorfindel's expression had turned from mischievous to speculative and then spread into a grin.

"You are right, Mith! Is there anything I can do to help your goal? We need a Lady and Valar knows Elrond needs a wife. I sometimes think he would forget his head if it were not attached, he spends so much time thinking about his people that he forgets about looking after himself. A wife should sort that out." Mith grinned at her friend, well at last! She had an ally.

XXX

Sometimes she wondered if she would ever find her real parents, she and Erestor had found nothing about her family, there were very few parents who had lost a child or people who could have sired her and none of them were findable.

Erestor wrapped his arm round her shoulder and hugged her close as she sighed in defeat. They both had days when they felt like that. She curled into the comforting embrace and rested her head on his shoulder. In their search the pair had grown close together and often shared frustrations and comforted each other when they felt down.

Erestor took the scroll from her hand and placed it on the desk in front of her.

"Come on, Mith, Elrond is having a private meal today and it is nearly lunch time. Maybe things will be better once you've had a rest." She nodded, not really believing him and followed him to Elrond's private dining room. They didn't always eat in private, but today they would. Mith wondered why, there was usually a reason for it.

When they arrived, Elrond looked stressed, his brow creased into line that most elven faces were free of and he was rubbing his forehead. Even Glorfindel was bouncing less than usual. Elrond looked up at them and smiled, though the expression did not contain any humour.

It was only after the meal had been served out and they had been eating for a while that Elrond spoke up. He looked up at them for a few moments to catch their attention and then sighed heavily.

"Thanduil, the King of Greenwood the Great, is coming to visit for political reasons. The visit is in a few months, but it is still a major headache." He sighed again and then his gaze flickered to Mithiliel uncertainly. Mith knew why. Thranduil of the Greenwood famously was _not_ fond of Noldors and was rather vocal in his negative opinion of Galadriel. Mith looked back with a raised eyebrow.

"I know of the King's opinions about both my race and my mother, Lord Elrond, I will not cause any problem." Her voice, however, was slightly tight.

"I did not expect you to, my dear, I just wished to warn you. He may be a little uncivil around you, I am afraid, though he could also be useful, for we know very little about you and he might know something we do not. I am afraid it will be a rather tense visit, though, we are allies not friends and though we will be visibly 'friendly', that will be very definitely strained." Mith smiled, she knew about that. She suspected the assorted Elf-lords would be excruciatingly polite to each other right until they got into the negotiating chamber.

"I hope your negotiating room has thick walls, Lord Elrond, King Thanduil is notoriously short-tempered and we wouldn't want the entirety of Imladris to hear you two arguing." She grinned at the Elf-lord, who returned the expression with a glare.

XXX

Five months later, she was standing in the welcoming courtyard of Imladris near Elrond formally dressed in her usual grey. Over the previous months, her research had been put on hold in favour of she and Erestor taking on extra duties to help the haven prepare for Thanduil's visit. Luckily for Elrond, Mith's upbringing had involved how to be the Lady of a nation, the assumption being that the daughters of a Princess of the Noldor and a Prince of Doriath would marry into other royal families and need the training. Glorfindel was right though, Elrond really needed a wife.

After what seemed like ages, though was probably less than half an hour, the party rode up with some dark-haired Imladris guide. The group looked like a wheat-field, a whole lot of blonde-haired people though unlike in Lorien, there were few silver-blonde-haired people. The Sindar/Sylvan balance was rather different between the two realms. Thranduil was clearly the tall, grim-looking Elf in front of the group.

He also seemed to be prematurely aged. That seemed to be a problem of the rulers of the realms; both Elrond and King Amroth suffered from this same problem, though Thranduil seemed to have gone more in the direction of grim-icyness than the others. As he dismounted, Elrond descended the steps and greeted the King. As predicted, the pair were very careful to be incredibly polite to each other, though you could cut the tension with a knife, just as you could see the tightness in both Elf-lords' expressions from a mile away. It promised to be a very interesting two weeks.

Once Thranduil and Elrond had finished being polite to each other, Thranduil went over and greeted both Erestor and Glorfindel, whom he had fought with (in all senses of the phrase) during the Last Alliance. They were also excruciatingly polite to each other and then the blonde king turned to Mith. He put on a lady-killer smile and turned back to Elrond.

"Who is this lovely lady, Elrond? Please don't tell me you've gone and taken yourself a wife without telling me, for I would be terribly disappointed if I did not have the chance to flirt with this stunning young lady." He certainly could be charming when he wanted to be. Elrond smiled, slightly sardonically, and answered the King.

"Hardly, Thranduil, she is the Lady Mithiliel, the adopted daughter of Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel. She has settled in Imladris while attempting to discover about her blood parents." Everyone saw the slight tightness that formed around the King's mouth at the words 'Galadriel' and 'Celeborn', but he couldn't stop being charming just because of her adoptive parents.

"I am amazed, Lady Mithiliel, I was unaware they had adopted a daughter, I have heard of the Lady Celebrian, but never of a second daughter. I wonder how the reports forgot to mention this second beauty in their care." She smiled and replied in kind.

"Oh, you are too kind, your majesty, I suspect, though, that the lack of comment on me is because Celebrian is much more beautiful than I. I am simply pretty enough to not be noticed as ugly beside her. I thank you for your compliments, though; they are most appreciated." He smiled charmingly again.

"Oh no, Lady, I could not believe that. You are most lovely in your own right. Maybe I could steal you and Elrond could have your sister, then we could each have one of the most beautiful Elves in Arda as our wives!" Behind her, Glorfindel started choking, sounding suspiciously like he was trying to hold down a laugh.

"I believe the Golden Lord thinks that Celebrian and Lord Elrond would make a good pair as well and we all agree he needs a wife. Who knows? Maybe it will happen?" Thranduil laughed out loud and they went into the House talking, mostly about the pros and cons of Elrond married to Celebrian, much to the embarrassment of the Elf in question.

XXX

Despite all the points against it, Thanduil and Mithiliel had become good friends during the visit and she had taken on the role a peace-maker between the Elf-lords after heated days in the negotiation chambers, where they were trying to hammer out the details of a peace between the two realms.

About three days before he left, Thranduil caught Mith on one of the more private balconies near the Hall of Fire while she was watching the stars, thinking of home. He gently wrapped his arms around her and lay his head on her shoulder.

"You know, I wasn't joking about marrying you, Mith. You are an astoundingly attractive young lady and I doubt that you would be less attractive than your sister. As I have got to know you, I have simply become more attracted to you." She turned to the blonde King behind her and looked up, doubtful, not of his opinion, but of his people's.

"But would your people like me? I am a Noldor, and a Noldor who doesn't know her true parents as well as being the adopted daughter of a pair you famously don't like." Thrandul leant back to look her in the faces and cupped her cheek in his hand, rubbing gentle circles with his thumb.

"I truly don't care what my people say. You will make a good Queen and I want you as my wife. I have seen how you have held together Imladris during my visit and Elrond is most praiseful of you, Lady. Let Elrond have your sister, if he wants a wife, which admittedly, Glorfindel is right, he does need." Mith looked at Thranduil uncertainly. "Please, Mith, all I am asking is that you accept my suit and allow me to court you." He looked so mournful, she just couldn't say no. She leant up and kissed his cheek softly.

"Alright, though it is going to be a little hard with you being in The Greenwood all the time. Letters are not quite the same you know."

"You can visit any time you want, Mith, and I will try to visit as often as possible." Somehow he sounded like a little boy and she couldn't help kissing his cheek again.

"Of course, Thranduil, though you have to promise to help Glorfindel and I set up Celebrian and Elrond. They would make a wonderful pair and I know she would make it easier with Ada and Naneth accepting us." Thranduil laughed and kissed the corner of her lips. They spoke quietly for a while before he escorted her back to her rooms and bid her a fond farewell.

'Well' was an objective term as she barely slept, thinking over her new and incredibly unexpected relationship with the King of Greenwood the Great. She was not sure what her family's reaction would be, but, Eru, she would be writing a letter to Celebrian in the morning gushing about it. Celebrian would know how to react.


	3. Chapter 3

Grey Dawn 3

Two days later, Mithiliel bid Thranduil goodbye still unsure about her new status in relation to the King. Her letter to her sister and another to her parents had gone the afternoon after Thranduil had asked her to court him and she knew she would not have a response for the better part of a month, but she was still on edge.

Even so, she would not allow whatever her family would say get in the way of her romance and this moment, the last point at which she would see the King for many months at best. Everyone present seemed immensely amused by her tenderness towards the King, an Elf everyone had expected her to have explosions with.

XXX

Sure enough, as soon as was physically possible, there was a return message stating that they would be coming to visit soon. Mithiliel suspected they wanted to check her sanity. Elrond seemed rather amused by it as well, though he seemed a little preoccupied by something else.

Both Mithiliel and Glorfindel hoped and suspected that the preoccupation had something to do with the fact Celebrian would be with the group. Celebrian's presence in the group had another advantage in that it meant they could up their campaign to get the pair together. It would also turn the heat off Mithiliel and Thranduil's relationship as well should the Lord of Imladris and the daughter of the Lady of Light get together.

XXX

It was almost two years to the day from the point Mithiliel had left Lorien for Imladris that her family rode into the courtyard in front of the main house. All three members of her family looked distinctly worried as they pushed the hoods of their cloaks back and strode up the steps to greet her and Lord Elrond. Much to hers and Glorfindel's amusement, neither Celebrian nor Elrond managed to keep their eyes off each other much, whatever the cause of the visit.

They all managed to keep themselves to themselves until around dinner time; the intervening time had been spent recovering from the journey. All three were very silent for a while, as if trying to work out what to say, while Glorfindel, Erestor, Elrond and Mithiliel watched the trio in amusement. There were also multiple looks past between Elrond and Celebrian, which were duly noted by Glorfindel and Mithiliel, though the expression on Erestor's face spoke loud and clear that he knew what was going on.

"Mithiliel? Did we read your letter correctly, that you are courting _King Thranduil of Greenwood the Great?_" Celebrian finally asked. All three Elf-lords suppressed a snort and Mithiliel was not far off a similar reaction.

"Yes, you did read correctly. He came here a few months ago on a political mission, as I told you in previous missives, and since Elrond really needs a wife to help him out, but hasn't got one yet, I did all the things for him instead and so was in the welcoming party. Within about five minutes of seeing me, he started flirting with me, then towards the end of his visit, he asked my permission to court me. I agreed. He is really nice, you know, if you're not arguing with him." There was something pointed about the last comment.

All three Elves stared at her, clearly shocked, and Galadriel looked as if she wanted to check Mithiliel's sanity. Elrond however, was looking somewhere between surprised and long suffering. That expression made her grin and as she looked back to her family, she caught Glorfindel's eye and both stifled laughs.

"But I thought you were interested in El..." Celebrian trailed off as she looked at the Elf-lord in question then back at her sister and her eyes widened. She then looked between Mithiliel and Glorfindel several times as both tried to look innocent, though failing miserably. "Mithiliel!" She cried, having finally worked out what her sister was up to. Both Mithiliel and Glorfindel looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Everyone looked at the three, confused by the apparently nonsensical exchange. With a certain amount of difficulty, Mithiliel regained her composure enough to explain. Sort of.

"Oh, don't worry, Celebrian just worked out something that Glorfindel and I have been doing." Celebrian glared at the pair who both immediately put their fists in their mouths to stop them collapsing laughing again. Lord Elrond, Galadriel and Celeborn looked confused and a bit suspicious, while Erestor looked mildly amused. For some reason, Mithiliel had this impression he already knew what they had been up to. It wouldn't surprise her, for Erestor seemed to know everything that happened in Imladris.

XXX

"Mithiliel! Why are you and Glorfindel trying to set me up with the Lord of Imladris?"

Mithiliel and Celebrian were sitting in her room in their nightdresses. The two of them were sleeping in the same room tonight in a way to compensate for not having been around each other for two years.

"Because I thought you would make a good Lady of Imladris, Elrond _really_ needs a wife and the two of you seemed fairly attracted to each other when he was in Lorien, so we decided to try set you up. Come on Bri' don't tell me you don't find him a good prospect for a husband. Even Thranduil reckons you'll be a good match, though that might have something to do with the fact he's only got my descriptions and he wants me for himself. There is also the fact that us each marrying one of them would make for really good inter-realm alliances, though I think that is a secondary consideration." Celebrian looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You really are besotted with the elven King if you think Thranduil's opinion is a glowing recommendation for me, though you are right, it would have a nice symmetry." They both laughed. Neither would choose a husband on any reasons other than genuine love and affection really, whatever they talked about.

XXX

Once she had got used to the idea, Celebrian did not seem in the slightest bit objectionable to the notion of courting Elrond and about a month later, the pair obliged Mithiliel and Glorfindel by starting courting themselves. Unfortunately, it was only a couple of weeks before the group was due to return to Lorien.

Strangely enough, neither Galadriel nor Celeborn was half as worried by the announcement as they had been about Mithiliel and Thranduil. Most of Imladris were holding covert parties and celebrating at the fact it appeared that their Lord finally seemed to be getting ready to be married. It was long overdue.

Shortly after that, though, was the time for them to part and go back to their lives. Before leaving, Celebrian made Mithiliel promise to tell her everything about Elrond as was possible – like Mithiliel hadn't been doing that anyway – and to write often. Mithiliel had made Celebrian promise to visit again soon.

XXX

The night after Galadriel, Celeborn and Celebrian left, Erestor asked Glorfindel and Mithiliel to his rooms for a drink and a private chat. Wondering what the quiet councillor wanted, they went together. When there, they found an unusually relaxed Erestor in only leggings and a loose shirt with a wine glass in his hand. He cordially offered them each wine and bade them sit down. Looking at each other, clearly unsure of what the councillor wanted, both sat.

Erestor then proceeded to talk small talk for a little while, occasionally sending the pair speculative looks. He eventually got to the point,

"You two were trying to set up Lady Celebrian and Lord Elrond, were you not?" Both looked at the councillor sheepishly, knowing better than to pretend otherwise.

"Well Elrond does need a wife, Erestor, and Mithiliel's sister would make a good match and they _do_ seem fond of each other." Glorfindel defended his actions sounding sort of like a three-year-old. Erestor simply raised an eyebrow and the Golden Lord fidgeted in his place. After having kept him squirming for a suitably long period of time, Erestor laughed out loud.

The laugh started as a quiet chuckle, but increased in size and volume until he had one of those deep booming laughs that takes everyone with it. As Mithiliel and Glorfindel recovered from their shock, they joined in. Eventually they got a hold on themselves.

"You knew all along, did you not, Erestor?" Mithiliel asked. It was his turn to nod sheepishly at her.

"I overheard you talking to each other after Glorfindel stole you letter. I have to agree with you." He smiled and raised his wine glass. "To Elrond and Celebrian, may they have a long and fruitful union, which keeps our dear Lord well occupied and well looked after." Both Mithiliel and Glorfindel could raise a glass to that.

"To Elrond and Celebrian, may they have a long and fruitful union, which keeps our dear Lord well occupied and well looked after!"


	4. Chapter 4

Grey Dawn 4

A couple of years later, Celebrian came to visit for a while. This was to be a longer visit than the previous ones, partly so Celebrian and Elrond could get together and spend some time being lovey dovey.

In the mean time, Thranduil had carried on sending letters and often gifts, all with the sweetest intent. Mithiliel could see though, that his writing had a tendency to sound either like a public address or a bad romance novel. He had a great affinity towards melodrama and histrionics. She had to smile, though; it was very complementary to be told that she had the beauty of the Valar and maybe would outshine the Queen of the Valar in his eyes, though his highly dramatic cries of anguish against the miles between them and their separation were just the tiniest bit irritating. Thranduil could probably make a good living as a bard telling high epics of the past. He would, as a Sindar, probably be highly insulted if she told him that some of his letters sounded rather like some of the writings of Maglor, the son of Feanor.

She, of course, replied though in a rather less extravagant way. Mithiliel was not given to high and overstated declarations and rather would talk on what had been going on in Imladris, covering her search for her family and suchlike. She was still unsure whether she actually loved the blonde King, though she was fond of him. His literary tendencies irritated her, though; if she was to marry him then she wouldn't have to put up with that too much and maybe she could curb them a bit.

As Celebrian rode into the courtyard, Mithiliel rushed down the steps to her sister and then noticed the rather stiff Greenwood messenger beside her. She looked at the messenger with a raised eyebrow.

"I bring messages for The Lord Elrond and the Lady Mithiliel. I met this party on my way here, a day or so ago, and joined with them as I have the same destination." She held out her hand.

"I will take them," she waved a hand at a nearby servant, "Take the messenger and these guards to some rooms; we have had warning of those, so rooms are already prepared. Put the messenger in one of the standard rooms." Somehow she had maintained the role of Lady of the House to some extent and the servants automatically obeyed her. She looked back to the messenger who had yet to respond to her command. She raised her eyebrow again.

"I was told to give these messages to those they are intended for, Mistress, not anyone else." Her eyes went flat at the insulting tone. He had obviously taken her for a house keeper or something.

"I am the Lady Mithiliel and I serve as Lady of the House in the absence of a wife for Lord Elrond. I will take my letter and ensure that the Lord Elrond receives his." Both Celebrian's Lorien guards and the nearby Imladris guards somehow all became conspicuously muscular. Greenwood Elves were not popular in either realm and Mithiliel was well respected in both. Wisely, the messenger apologised and handed over both messages.

He was then gone and Mithiliel could greet her sister properly. Laughing, they hugged each other and expressed how much they missed each other and the other usual thing people, who hadn't seen each other in a while, did. Then, still hugging each other, Mithliel led Celebrian to Elrond's office, where she was sure her sister and the Lord would spend a while greeting each other suitably enthusiastically.

She was right, the two flew into each other's arms and spend a good five minutes kissing each other in a display that was distinctly improper for an unbetrothed pair. They did seem _very_ fond of each other.

"When are you two planning on getting betrothed? You behave like it already. Shall I go to the smith's and ask them to make two silver rings? It looks like you need them." Both looked up at her flushing darkly. Elrond paused for a while before shaking his head.

"It is not proper, Mithiliel, I have not asked Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel's permission for her hand and we cannot be betrothed until I have. To do so, I would have to go to Lorien as well as get my closest relative, who is a little hard to find, to ask them for me. I also suspect that they will insist on us courting a little while longer, though I will soon try for it. I do truly love my Celebrian." Mithiliel smirked slightly at 'My Celebrian'. Apparently Elrond was more than in love enough to be possessive.

"You do know that they will probably accept a substitute for a relative in light of the fact that your closest is probably an extremely distantly related human. The entire race could probably be called a closer relative. And as for the point of accepting you two, anyone who sees you together could tell that you are hopelessly in love with each other. Plus it is probably better for Elf-kind generally if you get a wife as soon as possible." Elrond, who had been nodding in acceptance of the points, started to nod at the last one, then registered what she had said and went red again very rapidly. He then glared at her, now getting rather miffed about everyone telling him he needed a wife.

"You know, the 'me needing a wife' joke is getting just a little old, Mithiliel. Please leave off it, especially in your sister's presence. I'm afraid you'll scare her off and I would rather you didn't. I think you would rather I didn't since you and my chief-councillors seem so desperate to get me married off." Mithiliel just laughed.

"I doubt that, Elrond, she agrees with me and please credit my sister with more of a spine than that!" Both Elves in question laughed and went back to kissing each other.

XXX

That evening, after the meal, Mithiliel and Celebrian retired to Mithiliel's room ,where they were both going to stay the night, as per tradition. While Celebrian was changing into her nightdress, Mith read Thranduil's letter.

"Celebrian? Listen to this." She called, after sighing and rolling her eyes.

_My dearest and most beautiful Mithiliel, how I miss thee_

_As always when I write to you, I miss you more than I could have possibly imagined before I had the most amazing luck to lay eyes on your beautiful and most stunning person. Every night, I dream of your stunning visage and I fear that mine memory, imperfect as it is, might emplace a flaw upon your flawless person, for it failed me, so love-struck was I, to get a true image of thy faultless countenance._

_And do I count the days, and my heart beats with anticipation at the thought, until I do see you again. Please, I beg of thee, consider leaving that fair valley in which you do reside and come to my poor home, that dark forest, as soon as the beautiful beasts that do carry us may take you to me and I do hope that by some miracle will bring thee to me e'en sooner..._

And so it went on, gushing for all Thranduil was worth. Mithiliel read it out until Celebrian made a gagging sound.

"Please, Mith, no more; is that really how Thranduil writes? He sounds like a bad epic romance. I want to throw up!" Mithiliel laughed, she knew exactly what her sister meant.

"Yes, that is how he writes; though thank Eru he does not speak like that. It is sort of entertaining the first time round, all that high speech a great declamations of love and so on, but it really does wear thin quickly. I am thinking of visiting The Greenwood just for the opportunity to cure him of that. He drives you insane after a while." Mithiliel sighed in exasperation again. Celebrian looked amused.

"He sounds like a complete prat there; I almost wonder why he doesn't use Quenya, it is more suited to that sort of gushing than Sindarin." Mithiliel laughed, she would _not_ make that suggestion to Thranduil.

"He's a Prince of Doriath remember? Like Ada and Thingol of Doriath, he banned Quenya because of the Kinslaying. He'd die before using the Noldorin language." Celebrian laughed. They spent much of the rest of the night gassing about their relative love interests, often giggling.

XXX

The next morning, Mithiliel saw the officious Greenwood messenger around. Out of courtesy, if nothing else, Mithiliel went up to speak to him.

"Well met, Sir, I take it your quarters are to your liking?" It was polite, if a bit icy. He nodded, equally icily.

"Yes, My Lady, they are very comfortable and the servants have been most accommodating."

"And may I enquire for how long do you wish to stay in our home? If it is a long time, I shall have to make more permanent arrangements than those already made."

"My Lord Thranduil has bid me stay until I have an answer from you, My Lady. I would have thought he mentioned so in his letter." The tight smile she directed at the messenger was closer to a grimace.

"King Thranduil must have forgotten to mention it; he was too busy saying other things, Sir. Well, I shall attempt to write quickly and ensure you are not held here too long." They nodded at each other curtly and went about their way. That was one Elf Mithiliel did not like.

XXX

_Dearest Thranduil_

_As to your request, I shall soon be coming to your realm and one presumes that you do not mind me bringing my sister with me. She is on a long visit to Imladris and I wish to introduce the pair of you, though I believe I will hold off the parental stuff until the last possible moment, as I am not entirely sure about whether they have got over their apoplexy at me announcing that we are courting. Celebrian is, thankfully, more open-minded. I will come soon after the letter, probably a few weeks, as I will need to sort things out here, like what the servants and such will do while I am away. Somehow, I have got stuck with the duties of Lady of Imladris and I frequently hope that Elrond will hurry up and ask my parents for Celebrian's hand-in-marriage so she can come here and do all that instead. If nothing else, this is proof Elrond needs a wife, and hopefully he will take all those problems my absence will suddenly bring to him to realise and get on with it!_

_Enough talk of my travel plans, though judging by your previous missives you are glad to hear of them..._

Mithiliel went about things for a while and once she had completed the message, she smiled. Thranduil might speak like an ancient epic but, Eru, she was going to speak like a normal Elf.

The letter went the next day, ridding her of the necessity of dealing with the unpleasant messenger any longer. She shouldn't be so glad at getting rid of any person from her presence but then again, no one is perfect.

She smiled slightly at the thought of introducing Galadriel and Celeborn's blood daughter to The Greenwood. That would be _interesting._


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: Righty oh, someone pointed out that i sometimes use nicknames for my elves when elves apparently don't. I have tried to remove them as much as possible from the chapters between that review and this one but, being a student near christmas deadline time (which might also hold up updates a little), i haven't the time to remove all of them from the chapters i have already written before that review so temporarily there will be abreviations but after chapter 12/13 it will go to having the full names unless there is a specific reason otherwise. Just to lets you know, also there are already 14 chapters written and 15 will probably be finished in my incredibly boring lecture on tuesday. Not that i would write a chapter when i am supposed to be listening to a lecture on statistics ever. Really. *tries to look innocent*

Grey Dawn 5

A month after writing the letter, the pair left off, having sent a message telling Galdriel and Celeborn what they were doing; they would be long gone before any potential forbidding on the part of their parents could arrive. It had been deliberately timed like that.

With them went a large contingent of Rivendell guards intent on protecting their interim Lady and her (hopefully) successor on their way to the, if not unfriendly then not exactly trusted, Kingdom of the Wood Elves.

There was little need for the guards, the Orcs and such like having been successfully decimated in the century or so since the Last Alliance and the turn of the Age. All the same, they had to cross the Misty Mountains on their way to the Greenwood, which still had the occasional spider problem due to its proximity with Dol Goldur even if that realm was presently uninhabited.

Eventually though, they reached the border of Greenwood the Great and were met there by a large contingent of the Elves of the Greenwood. The lead Elf was one of Thranduil's Councillors that he had brought to Imladris. The Councillor's expression was neither welcoming nor disapproving, but neutral. Mith had this impression he didn't approve, but was professional enough to hide it. The Greenwood guards' faces were hidden and so she could not tell their expressions. The Imladris guards formed a layer between their Ladies and the Greenwood guard, not too subtly.

The trip through the dark eves of the forest was slightly tense as the Imladris guards remained conspicuously protective of their Ladies and the Greenwood guards distrustful of all those from Imladris. The Councillor, a lord Eruvion, remained polite but little more. Mith and Celebrian were both glad to reach the palace, built near a cave system that was being used mostly as storage as well as some of the retainers living in some of the cave. Mith suspected the caves would be a good place to retreat to should Greenwood ever be attacked.

Thranduil was waiting for them at the entrance of the palace, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation. That made Mith smile, she couldn't help it, for it was very endearing. He grinned at them as he saw them coming and Mith smiled back. Celebrian leaned over and spoke to her sister,

"Now that is sweet, Nana would have a fit at the image, though. King Thranduil of Greenwood the Great, the big stressy and unreasonable elven king yada, yada, yada, and all that stuff that is chucked around Lorien, bouncing on his feet waiting for the adopted daughter of Galadriel. Totally ruins the image, that does. I almost want you to get engaged and marry him, just so Ada and Nana can have the coronary at Thranduil being something else than they like to pretend. Their reaction at finding you were courting him was funny enough, that would be even funnier." Celebrian was grinning insanely at the thought of Mith and Thranduil married.

Eruvion was watching the pair with a raised eyebrow and a slight smile.

"My Lord Thranduil has been virtually insufferable waiting for you to come. I believe he adores you, Lady Mithiliel; I am also glad that your sister is seeing him as he is. My Lord is much misaligned in Lorien, and though he does have his faults, he is a good and well loved Lord. I also have to agree, it would be immensely funny to see the Lady of Light's reaction to her daughter marrying my Lord. The reaction here to the union would be equally amusing, though slightly tempered for the happiness it would bring our Lord... and the peace it brings to our lives." The last comment was said to a wry smile. Suddenly Mith liked the Councillor more than she had so far.

That short conversation had brought them to the palace and they pulled up their horses. Before Mith even had a change at dismounting, Thranduil had picked her up her horse, spun her round before putting her down and kissing her passionately. Celebrian and Eruvion watched on in amusement.

"I have missed you more than words can express, My Grey Lady." He broke-off for more highly public displays of affection. Somehow, the Imladris guards seemed to gain an air of paternal protectiveness, though they had all been on high alert since they had entered the forest. Thranduil eventually pulled back and raised an eyebrow at them. Celebrian laughed.

"They are very protective of the Lady they have adopted as their own and I think consider as their Queen, at least until Elrond marries. Though, I think they will remain overly paternal no matter what." Celebrian's eyes were twinkling and Mith could tell she was in for teasing later, especially after what she had said when Celebrian and Elrond had been reunited.

"Oh, Thranduil, meet my sister Celebrian. Celebrian, King Thranduil of Greenwood the Great, our parents' favourite Elf in all Arda." This time it was her eyes that twinkled and she failed to keep the mischievous tone out of her voice. Thranduil, Celebrian and Eruvion all laughed gently. Thranduil shook his head slightly and pecked her lips again before taking possession of her waist and leading them into his palace.

XXX

That night there was a welcome feast for the sisters and, much to her amazement, Thranduil had somehow managed to get dresses made for both of them. Though they both had formal outfits that they had brought, the new gowns were particularly fine. Thranduil just smiled at their amazement.

Both dresses were green, though Celebrian's was an emerald shade as opposed to Mith's, which was a deep forest colour. Both gowns had much ornate and elegant embroidery with jewels sewn on. They also had maids that braided their hair back with more jewels and ribbons.

Then Thranduil, with Lord Eruvion, arrived to escort them to the feast, which was outside in one of the forest clearings. Thranduil grinned impishly and told Mith to close her eyes, which she did with a slight frown in the blonde Elf's direction. She then sensed him behind her and he placed something round her neck. As he did, she heard Celebrian gasp and utter an awed 'wow'. Thranduil then let her open her eyes again and Mith then went to the mirror to one side of her sitting room.

Round her neck was one of the most exquisite pieces of jewellery she had ever seen. There were two metal bands intertwined together and they twisted down into a complicated knot with and emerald pendant hanging from it. It was somehow simple and elegant, yet superbly complicated. Mith raised her hand up and traced the complicated lines with her fingers, jaw hanging slightly. After a few moments, she regained her composure enough and turned and kissed the King soundly on the lips.

"Thranduil, it is the most wonderful present I have ever received! It is so beautiful; who is the smith, they are a master!" Thranduil was grinning from ear to ear at her praise. Then Eruvion smiled slightly and nodded his head.

"I am glad you appreciate my work, Lady; I am rather proud of that piece myself." Both girls gaped at the Elf, highly surprised. "I am more use than courtly ornament, believe it or not" He said, smiling wryly. Celebrian turned to Thranduil.

"My Lord King, would you mind terribly if I poached him?" she said sweetly. Both Lords burst out laughing.

"Borrow maybe, but he's too valuable to lose. Was there anything you wanted him to make?" Thranduil was grinning. Despite his prejudices, he got on with Celebrian rather well.

"Two silver and two gold rings." Thranduil's eyebrows shot up, getting the implications of that choice. Mith decided to explain.

"While here, we were planning on putting together a plan to get Elrond to ask for Celebrian's hand in marriage. If we have the rings then it is a start." Both Lords laughed and took their respective Ladies' arms and led them to the feast.

XXX

Though the feast was enjoyable, both ellyth could feel the entire Greenwood Court sizing them up. It was not the sort of attention one wanted to be the centre of. Afterwards was a dance for which Thranduil failed to let go of Mith for the entirety of. Eruvion looked after Celebrian, and his glares sent several slightly predatory looking young ellyn running. After a few of these, when Thranduil and Mith drifted back towards them, Mith enquired about his apparent protectiveness.

"I have a granddaughter not much younger than you two myself. Some of those ellyn I am sure had fairly malicious aims towards your sister due to her heritage and probably would have been like that to you as well if it hadn't been for their King's obvious protectiveness. There is also the factor that I, at least, would like reconciliation with our cousins in Lorien. I knew Galadriel and Celeborn, not to mention some of their family, in Doriath and this enmity between us I think is unseemly. I would not allow harm to come to the child of two I do respect, even if not entirely like, simply because of that. I think, though, My Lord, you might have to make it a little clearer to the young ones to behave and that you will not tolerate any bad behaviour from them." Thranduil's eyes had narrowed during Eruvion's comments and he nodded in agreement. He could more than imagine what the young ellyn of his court would do, as well as more than one of the ellyth, to try and hurt the stunningly beautiful daughters of Galadriel and Celeborn. The two Elf-lords looked at each other and tried to change the subject.

"I have to admit, I am surprised that Lord Celeborn and Galadriel actually let the pair of you visit, on would have thought that they would be disinclined to agree," Eruvion asked smoothly.

"Well, the letter telling them we were coming here only left Imladris the day before we did, so if they send a letter back forbidding us to come here, then it is a little too late. We are already here," Mith said, slight smile hovering round her mouth. Both Elf-lords looked at her and laughed.

So did the sisters and they both felt a little more comfortable because they knew that, no matter what happened, they had at least two allies in this dark and unfriendly forest.


	6. Chapter 6

Grey Dawn 6

The next day, Eruvion and Thranduil gave the girls a tour of the palace. As they had been the night before, whole scores of courtiers eyed the pair suspiciously. Some of the older, Doriathin Lords looked at them slightly differently. Particularly Mith got those strange looks, though she was not sure why they should look at her strangely.

The two ellyth spent the next few days exploring the library. The librarian, an Elf strangely similar to Erestor in some ways, was welcoming to any who wanted to learn or study and was more than helpful for them looking through the archives to see if they could find out anything about Mith's heritage. Their complete lack of success in Imladris implied that her heritage might be more Sindar than Noldor.

_Eruvion's POV_

It was several days after the Lady of Light and Prince Celeborn's daughters had arrived and he, not to mention several other old lords of Doriath, had noticed things about the Lady Mithiliel. They all knew that she was an adopted daughter and might have human blood, but there was something familiar about her as well.

He and several of his old friends from the Fallen City gathered together in one of the social rooms of the palace to talk. It was something they frequently did, usually accompanied by alcohol. It was also male and Doriath Elves only.

Eventually, one of his friends asked something that he had been dwelling on his mind since the arrival of the Ladies Mithiliel and Celebrian.

"Is it me or does the Lady Mithiliel bare a certain resemblance to Princess Elwing?" All the other Lords tilted their heads to the side and pulled up the image of the Princess of Doriath, granddaughter of Beren and Luthien. As they recalled the Elf in question, they tried to fit the features to the new face.

"I believe you are right, she bares far more than a passing resemblance to the Princess. Now you come to mention it..." He trailed off. It was true, they all agreed, but how could she have? That level of resemblance could not be coincidence, but Elwing only had Elrond and Elros as children.

"It couldn't be that she is a daughter of Elured or Elurin? They vanished after the Fall of Doriath. They were only six when they were abandoned in the wilds. There is no way they could survive long enough to produce a child?" Eruvion's eyes widened.

"But some legends said they survived and live near the Blue Mountains..." He whispered. The others turned and stared at him, then frowned.

"But..."

"She was left in Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn's dwelling, in the Lady Celebrian's cot, when they lived beside Lake Evendim. It is conceivable that, if they survived and did live in the foot hills of the Blue Mountains, they could have dropped her off and she _does_ have a certain amount of human blood." Eruvion was exited now. He might have worked out the mystery of whom she was and why her face rang so many bells; maybe, just maybe...

_Mith's POV_

After a few days, the looks Eruvion shot her was even weirder than before; there were a mixture of things in it, curiosity, speculation, and this strange respect almost as well as hope. She was dying to ask what those looks were about, but there never seemed to be an opportunity. He also suddenly seemed to have a lot of research to do.

Thankfully, she could distract herself from the strange behaviour of the Lord High Councillor, as she now knew he was, by her plotting with Celebrian on how to convince Elrond to marry Celebrian.

A couple of weeks before they were due to leave, Thranduil took Mith aside to talk with her. He then proceeded to lead her off into a part of the palace she had never been in before. Somehow, the self assured elven-king seemed nervous.

"I thought you would like this place, Mith, it was a place my father made for my mother as a wedding present." Mith raised her eyebrow, she had heard little about Oropher and less about Thranduil's mother. Virtually all she knew of his family was from the stories she had heard around Lorien. "She sailed with my aunt when father and Cuvrannon died in the Battle of Dagorlad. They were too heartbroken to stay." Thranduil's voice was dead as he talked about his family. Mith's heart went out to him, she knew how much the loss of Amdir, King Amroth's father, hurt her King and Elrond still grieved the High King, who had died at the end of the War. To lose both his father and brother, another Elf she had heard little about, must have hurt particularly badly.

Thranduil then opened the door to the room. The room seemed to be a cross between a forest clearing and a sitting room. There were several large trees round the large room but there appeared to be some sort of roof preventing rain getting in and there were also futons and cushions around the room. There was a distinctly feminine touch to the room, though; through the trees, Mith could see a futon that was more than large enough to use as a bed. She wondered what the chances of Thranduil having been conceived in this room was.

Another noticeable thing about the room was the picnic basket. Thranduil led her over to the cushions on the floor near the basket and they sat down and ate. As they were sitting over the last of the very good Dorwinion Wine that Thranduil had served up, Thranduil took a deep breath and looked up at Mith through his lashes. Mith noticed that he looked particularly attractive like that.

"Mith? Would you mind if I were to ask your parents for your hand-in-marriage?" He sounded very nervous about the question. Mith had discovered during her stay that Thranduil was not comfortable talking about his emotions, so either would not talk about them at all or would couch them in the extravagant phrases as he had sent in the letters.

"I can't think of any, Thranduil, though both our peoples might come up with some. Ada might well say 'no' just because he doesn't like you. I hope he doesn't, though." She smiled slightly at him, biting one side of her lip. She was quite amenable to the idea, but she knew more than enough about her people and people in general to realise that there was a high chance of objections to the union. Thranduil's status though, should help as well because it would be politically very bad for them to prevent the union. Mith still worried, though.

Thranduil, though, was obviously very relieved that she had effectively just agreed to marry him. To him, it was the most important thing. Thranduil had nothing against a bit of constructive eloping to his own Kingdom should people be in the way too much. He would have his Queen, whatever Galadriel and Celeborn thought.

XXX

That night at dinner, Thranduil announced that he would be going back to Imladris with them and from that point he would escort the girls back to Lorien, bully Elrond into joining them and then in Lorien, ask for Mith's hand. While they were there, they could get Elrond to ask for Celebrian's hand-in-marriage as well.

Celebrian and Mith looked at each other and smiled before bursting out laughing. They had spent ages trying to work out a solution to the problem of how to get Elrond to Lorien to ask for Celebrian's hand in marriage and now the King had solved it in one announcement. Whatever their parents felt about Thranduil, Celebrian definitely liked her sister's choice of mate.


	7. Chapter 7

Grey Dawn 7

"Ivorchyl! What are you doing here?" Thranduil's voice rang out down the corridor. Everyone turned to look at what their King was looking at and Mith saw a beautiful golden-haired elleth in greens common to Greenwood the Great proceeding down the corridor with all the imperialness and regal airs of Thranduil himself, and probably some more. 'Ivorchyl' just smiled at the Elf with insincere warmth.

"Oh, Thrandy, dearest! Is that any way to greet your older sister?" Mith and Celebrian gaped at the elleth while Eruvion had the look of an Elf praying to whatever Valar were listening. Everyone in the hall had gone silent. Thranduil's jaw tightened and he put on an equally insincere welcoming expression.

"Well met, sister mine. Happy now? And shall we get back to the subject? What are you doing back in the Greenwood, I thought you were living with the colony in Dorwinion?" Ivorchyl raised an eyebrow.

"Shall we have this conversation somewhere more private, penneth? I am sure that our excellent Eruvion taught us that we should keep these little family discussions in private. It shows such terrible disunity in the royal house if we keep having all sorts of little tiffs in the hall, Thrandy old boy." Her speech was ultra-urbane and deliberately offensive sounding. Eruvion's eyes were raised to the ceiling and Mith thought he looked as if he wanted to bolt.

Thranduil quickly agreed with her, obviously not wanting to be called any more embarrassing or offensive names in front of anyone who cared to listen. He led them to a private sitting room and stiffly provided them all with drinks before sitting down himself. Ivorchyl was icily courteous to him and there was a steal in her spine. Mith got this strong impression they were not on the best of terms. Once they were all sat down, Ivorchyl turned to Mith and Celebrian, the only two she apparently did not already know.

"Lady Mithiliel and Lady Celebrian, the daughters of Galadriel and Celeborn and the hopefully betrotheds of my darling kid brother and Lord Elrond Peredhil, one of the greatest Elves alive." Both stare at the elleth at that comment. She just laughed.

"Most of the Greenwood seems under fond of Lord Elrond, Lady; why do you like him?" Celebrian asked curiously.

"King Oropher, the person who I have the great misfortune of having to admit to having as a father, hated him therefore Elrond must be one of the greatest Elves alive." Celebrian just nodded. Both Mith and Celebrian were getting the impression she was not fond of her male family members. Mith wondered what had happened. Thranduil chose that moment to get over his shock at his sister's apparent knowledge of who Mith and Celebrian were.

"How on Arda do you know that, 'Chyl?" She just sent him a sardonic look.

"The birds don't just talk to you, they talk to _all_ the rightful heirs of the Greenwood. Actually, they, or more precisely Mithiliel, are the reason I'm here." Thranduil raised an eyebrow, clearly asking her to go on. "Just in case you have forgotten, brother mine, you need a close relative to ask her parents for her hand. Last time I checked, you didn't have an abundance of those." Thranduil's expression had changed to something rather strange. It was somewhere between surprise, wariness and something else Mith could not identify. He looked at her and Mith suddenly realised that he could not think of anything to say. After a pregnant pause, Eruvion spoke instead.

"Ivochyl, I never knew you cared. Though I think Thranduil will thank you, when he's got over his shock anyway. How is your husband? I don't see him here. I am a little surprised he let you come alone, he was always rather protective of you." Her face hardened again.

"Possessive and domineering don't you mean? My husband did me the favour of dying a year or so ago. Since he had a brother, I left Dorwinion in his capable hands. Thankfully my union was childless so there in nothing to hold me there, even if the place was not fading away. As for caring, most of what irritates me about my brother is actually Oropher's fault, not Thranduil and he is rather better than the pathetic excuse for a family I have over in Dorwinion." It would have been hard to miss the hatred in her eyes. Thranduil suddenly came back to himself.

"None of them hurt you did they? If they did..." Ivochyl laughed out loud at the threatening tone in her younger brother. She flung her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

"No, Thranduil, they didn't. It is actually nice to know you care." Mith carefully covered her mouth. Apparently both behaved like they hated each other yet really loved each other. It was really quite endearing to watch.

XXX

The next day, they all left the Greenwood in a huge party with both Thranduil's guards and the small guard Ivochyl had brought with her, not to mention Mith and Celebrian's guard that they had brought from Imladris. Ivochyl had parked herself beside Celebrian who also rode beside Mith and on Mith's other side was Thranduil, who looked both very protective and really quite lethal.

A few days into the journey, Myth finally got up the courage to ask Ivochyl what had happened to make her hate her father so. Instead of going flat-eyed or angry as Mith had expected her to go, she just looked into the distance with an air of melancholy.

"My father was far from the kindest Elf around and he was a chauvinistic bigot. He did not want a daughter, especially as his first child. Though I think he loved my mother, he clearly thought of me as an inconvenient accident whose only use was to be married off to a suitable Sindar, who would be a useful ally to my father. I got the oldest son of the then Lord of the Dowinion colony of Elves, another Sindar/Sylvan mixed group. He was the highest ranking Sindar available at the time. Though I was the eldest and by our laws, the one who was supposed to inherit, he made it so I could only do so if all my brothers were dead and childless and I had to be married and any inheritance would go to my husband. At the time Thranduil, as well as Cuvrannon, were kept close to his side and agreed to anything he said. I was never sure whether that was common sense or just brainwashing, but it did not make life any easier, hence the fact Thranduil and I sort of argue a bit. Actually, we always did, mostly because of that. If elven hair could have gone grey, Thranduil, Cuvrannon and I would have turned Eruvion's grey."

She laughed and turned to smile fondly at the Elf-lord riding behind them. Mith and Celebrian also turned. Eruvion wore an expression that implied that he was trying not to look as if he agreed emphatically. He was failing on that score. Mith then frowned.

"Eruvion? This may seem a dumb question but..." She trailed off in the face of the amused expression on Ivochyl.

"Thranduil obviously forgot to mention the relationship there. Eruvion was born in the Years of the Trees in Doriath and he has been both our father's and our tutor throughout our childhood. That is why Thranduil is so fond of him and trusts him so. We have known him all our lives." Mith looked at the Lord in surprise. She hadn't known he and Thranduil had gone so far back.

XXX

It took them around three weeks to get from the Greenwood to Imladris and the look on Elrond's face as they arrived was classic. Though he had been warned that Thranduil would be coming with them, he still seemed a bit shocked but then again, that might have been Ivochyl's presence. Even if he had not met the Greenwoodian princess before, it was not hard to guess. She did look remarkably like her brother in many ways.

Once Elrond had greeted Mith, Thranduil and Celebrian (enthusiastically in the last case and with much kissing), he turned to Thranduil's elder sister with a raised eyebrow.

"Ivochyl, the last I heard of you was your marriage. I am surprised you were able to come." His tone implied that he knew of the nature of Ivochyl's husband. Over the journey, they had heard more of the Elf and no-one liked him at all.

"Saerwedh died last year, it was one of the best things to have every happened to me, bar the Battle of Dagorlad." The looks on the faces of many Elves were shocked. Most of them either knew or could guess who she was and the notion that the battle that killed her father and brother was 'one of the best things to happen to her' shocked them. Elrond himself paled slightly and carried on greeting the significant members of the party before inviting them inside.

As he took Celebrian's arm rather possessively and Thranduil took Mith's, Erestor took Ivochyl's. There was a flicker of surprise across Eruvion's face as he had begun to move forward to do the same thing. He then smiled slightly at the dark-haired Elf and nodded. Mith was pretty sure she was the only one who had noticed the exchange, as so many eyes had been on the other people present. Most Elves wanted to be sure they could run if Thranduil and one of either Glorfindel or Elrond exploded at each other, as was so likely to happen.

When they were in private, Elrond immediately asked why they were there. That had been deliberately neglected in the missive telling him that they were coming.

"Well, we needed to go to Lorien so I could ask Celeborn and Galadriel for Mith's hand-in-marriage." Thranduil started. Elrond frowned.

"Wouldn't it have been easier just to go straight there rather than crossing the mountains here, then crossing them back again to get there?" Thranduil raised a long elegant finger as if a teacher correcting a student.

"We had something we had to do here first, though." Elrond's expression was a mute question. "We had to pick you up and drag you along so you could ask for Celebrian at the same time. The ladies are getting rather impatient for you to do so, you know, and now my sister has joined them, well..."

Elrond's eyes widened in shock at the implication but, rather suddenly, Glorfindel (whose eyes had widened was well) burst out laughing.

"I knew you had to have a good side, Thranduil! No one could have their people love you so much and be that bad. I propose a toast to the King of the Greenwood for his matchmaking and his forceful approach to getting our Lord well tied off!" Elrond was staring at the golden Lord in consternation, but everyone else laughed out loud and raised their drinks in toast.


	8. Chapter 8

The apparently becoming obligatory Author's Note before the chapter: Righty oh, first i have worked out a posting rota for this story, Wednesday and Sunday evenings shall be the days when i post new chapters. Unless i have uni work which does (i'm afraid) take precidence. If you want to i now do twitter (courtesy of my mother and singing teacher bullying me) and if you are following me on it (DM me to tell me your there because you actually want to talk about my authorial efforts, else i won't bother) i will post updates, including about when new chapters are written and beta'd and therefore ready to go.

Incidently, does anyone know a cheep and easy way to deal with teachers who don't give you the essay titles until a week and a half before the deadline? I want to do something nasty to my philosophy teacher for that as i'm trying to get to grips with Aristotle's views on ethics to do this essay due for next Thursday.

Anyway, to start the story...

Grey dawn 8

They left for Lorien a few days later with only a change in the Rivendell contingent of guards. They had only stayed in Imladris long enough to give the travelling party a rest and for Elrond to make arrangements while he was away. Actually, Erestor did most of that and Elrond spent every spare minute going goo-goo eyed at Celebrian, who responded in kind. Mith was very glad she could escape off with Thranduil whenever they went off into space.

To Mith's disappointment, Erestor would not be coming, but minding the shop instead of Elrond. Although, she did have to admit, if there was anyone she would trust Imladris to in Elrond's absence then it was the self-effacing Councillor. Strangely enough, Ivochyl seemed to be a bit disappointed too. The King's sister had grown fond of the Councillor in the few days they had known each other. It was a pity Ivochyl was still technically bound, though her husband was dead, because she and Erestor would make a good couple.

The trip over the mountains was tense more because of who was in the party than any hint of an attack. Few things would attack a party that large, with the royal guard of two reigning monarchs and their ladies, as well as the King's sister. Elrond and Thranduil talked calmly to each other and seemed to get on well, despite past differences, probably because (if everything went as planned) they would soon be related by marriage.

The Wardens of Lorien that met them at the border were clearly unfriendly towards the King of the Greenwood though excruciatingly polite. Mith suspected Amroth had ordered them to be nice, no matter what their personal feelings about the Sindar King. They were considerably nicer to Elrond and emphatic in their greeting of Mith and Celebrian. Mith nearly laughed at the look and Thranduil's face as one of them pulled her off her horse and swung her round before hugging her.

"Oh, don't worry so, Thranduil, we've known each other since early childhood, he's just saying hello. These are my friends and I have known them an awfully long time." She could see him trying to school his expression, though she could tell he still didn't like another ellon touching her.

XXX

About two days later, they reached the city, travelling at a relaxed pace and enjoying the sights of the Golden Wood.

The looks on the faces of the Galadhrim were hard as they regarded the tall blond king of the Greenwood and the Elves he had brought with him. Thranduil's face was pleasant and charming, carefully ignoring the unfriendly Elves around him though his hand was firmly held round Mith's waist preventing her from running from the unfriendly faces of her countrymen.

When they reached the city, they were met by the polite, but frosts nobles and by King Amroth, who was less obviously hostile than most of his court. Beside him were Galadriel and Celeborn, who both wore flat expressions. Riding beside Mith and Thranduil on one side was Lord Eruvion, with an enigmatic expression implying there was something he knew that no one else did. On Thranduil's other side was Elrond with Celebrian also mounted on the same horse, and then beside them was Ivochyl. The fact Elrond and Celebrian were riding double, as were Mith and Thranduil, spoke louder than words that they were a couple.

Thranduil lifted Mith down from the horse just after he had dismounted and, ahead of the rest of the party, led Mith forward to greet the 'welcome' party. After the slightly frosty greeting, Amroth greeted Mith rather more fondly.

"Mithiliel, one would have thought you would be the last person to lead the Greenwood's King into this forest. I have to admit you sent waves of shock throughout the nation when you agreed to court him." There was a questioning tone to his voice and he was clearly trying to get the pair to announce their betrothal. Eruvion, however, was the one who spoke next.

"I am unsure why it should be surprising that the granddaughter of Dior and a Princess of Doriath should court a Prince of Doriath." His eyebrow was raised and his expression urbane. Amroth stared at him in confusion while both Galadriel and Celeborn had wide eyes and they were going pale while their mouths opened as if to talk. Celeborn did manage to say something, though.

"How on Arda do you know she's Elurin's daughter? We've never told anyone that!" Mith turned to him with a coldly furious expression. She took in a deep calming breath, let it out and then spoke quietly. No volume was needed, even if everyone hadn't gone quiet, her voice carried effortlessly.

"You know who my father is? You knew and you lied to me! Was there a reason or do you just like deceiving me? Would it have actually have hurt you to tell me rather than let me have search fruitlessly for the last five years?" She wanted to lay into them more, but also wanted answers. Both were biting their lips and everyone else was watching them in a combination of shock and curiosity, as well as several other emotions. Mith knew that she would make up a main character of virtually all the gossip for a long time. Elves were far too fond of gossip. Galadriel and Celeborn's faces had darkened and then Celeborn answered.

"You are our daughter, Mithiliel! Elurin just fathered you and then abandoned you in Celebrian's cradle with nothing more than a note to explain. The only thing he gave you was a name! Some nomadic Elves saved him and his brother and he married one of them, but since the group were sailing, they wanted to leave you behind and so they left you with us. Celebrian wouldn't let us even put you in a different cradle so we adopted you and brought up as our own. We love you as our own; he's never done anything for you, but we did everything!" Mithiliel had rarely seen her adopted father so passionate, and she could not respond to his outburst with anything other than an outright gape. In her peripheral vision, she could see Celebrian, Thranduil and Elrond mirroring her expression.

Eventually though, Eruvion managed to say something; he was by far the least shocked.

"Really, Celeborn, I never knew you were so possessive. I will agree you and the Lady have been rather better parents to her than Elurin was, but she does have a right to know who her father is. This is a most unbecoming part of your personality." The last comment was slightly reproving in tone. Celeborn actually looked ashamed.

"I am sorry, Eruvion, it is just that I love both my daughters dearly and it hurts to think that, now she knows of her true heritage, she will be referred to as the daughter of Elurin, when he has had nothing to do with her life since her infancy, especially when I, who has been her father all her life will no longer be referred as such." His eyes were sad as he looked at the blonde Lord in front of him. Eruvion moved over to the silver-haired Elf and embraced in one of those slightly gruff, masculine hugs that was let go after three seconds or so.

"Oh, penneth, I know you love her and yes, her father does sound moderately useless, but she does have a right to know who her family is. Apart from anything else, she has both Adan and Maia blood and those could affect her life, and she may have magic as well." Eruvion's voice was very gentle, though Mith was rather surprised at the endearment 'penneth', somehow 'little one' didn't seemed to fit Lord Celeborn, though it did give an insight into just how old Eruvion was. Celeborn nodded sadly and held out his hands to Mith, silently asking her to come to him. The gesture and the mournful expression in his eyes made all her anger dissipate and she curled into his arms, relishing the paternal embrace she had missed so over the last several years.

"Even now I know who fathered me now, you will always be my Ada. Didn't you know that?" Mith whispered and hugged him back affectionately. Somehow, Mith could feel Celeborn's relief and he tightened his arms round her even more.

"I love you, Mith; I always will!" he whispered back. Mith had to smile, it was nice to know her Ada loved her.

XXX

After that, the greetings went relatively smoothly, though the look on the faces of just about every noble present when Ivochyl was introduce were classic. Apparently most of them knew of her and her family's treatment of her because they didn't seem all that surprised at her total lack of grief at the death of her husband. Throughout though, Celeborn eyed Thranduil and his sister warily, over Mith's shoulder because he was still holding her close to him, almost possessively. It was clear he had got the implications of Thranduil breaking the serious dislike between realms and bringing his closest (and only) relative this side of Valinor with him, especially taken in light of the fact he already knew Mith and Thranduil to be courting.

That evening, instead of a banquet, there was a private meal with Amroth in a clearing beneath the King's talan in Cerin Amroth. The banquet would be held the next day to 'allow the party time to rest' as the King had put it. Mith suspected it was also because he was hoping the banquet could be used to announce the betrothal of one or both daughters of Galadriel and Celeborn to the rulers of the other elven realms.

The meal went smoothly for the most part, though the most memorable bit was when, just before dessert was served, Amroth tipped his head to the side and looked at Mith before talking.

"Mithiliel? If you are Elurin's daughter then doesn't that make you Elrond's nearest relative this side of Valinor?" Mith, who was sitting between the two rather possessive Princes of Doriath, stared at her King in shock. It hadn't occurred to her that her father's sister was Elrond's mother and therefore Elrond was her cousin. Elrond, too seemed rather shocked by the thought, but recovered quicker. He turned to Mith with a grin.

"Dear cousin! I welcome you to the family!" The shocked stare Amroth had been on the receiving end of turned to Elrond. A few seconds later, Mith began to recover and her face split into a slightly manic grin. Elrond seemed a little worried by that.

"Elrond, you know what that means don't you?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "It means that your last problem with getting engaged to Celebrian is dealt with. You now do have a relative this side of Valinor to ask for you so you don't have to do so yourself." Elrond then grinned and was about to speak when Celeborn spoke instead.

"Celebrian, I take that you are agreeable to marriage to Elrond?" His blonde daughter nodded. "Then shall we skip the formalities and just betroth the pair of you? I am agreeable and somehow I don't think my lovely wife has anything against it." Galadriel smiled and Elrond managed to relax and let out a sigh of relief. As Amroth called for some special wine to celebrate with, Eruvion pulled out a small box and handed it to the Lord of Imladris.

"A little present for you, made on a suggestion of your lovely betrothed." Elrond frowned slightly, even as Mith and Celebrian's eyes widened in comprehension. He opened the box to find two silver rings, beautifully made and his jaw dropped. "One believes that they should be imminently useful." Eruvion seemed to find the look on Elrond's face amusing as he took the rings out of the box and slipped the smaller onto Celebrian's finger. The larger was slipped onto his own.

As the newly betrothed couple kissed each other, Mith silently hoped that Ivochyl's visit to her father about the same subject would go as well. She didn't have absolute confidence in Celeborn on that point.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Sorry this is a bit late, blame my mother, her computers playing up so mine keeps getting expropriated.

Grey Dawn 9

Breakfast the next morning was slightly tense, to say the least. After it, Lord Elrond, Thranduil and King Amros went off to some place to use this rare opportunity to talk politics. The rulers of the Greenwood, Lorien and Imladris had not been in the same place at the same time since the previous age. Before leaving them though, Thranduil threw a worried look in Mith and Ivochyl's direction. He knew what his sister would be doing later on.

Once the kings were gone Ivochyl folded her napkin and looked up at Lord Celeborn.

"My Lord, would you mind if I spoke to you in private. It is a sensitive matter." Celeborn gave the princess a guarded look and rose also, following her out of the room. Mith looked at Celebrian and bit her lip; far from sure her father would agree to her betrothal. Galadriel and Eruvion just looked at each other and a strange, silent exchange happened. Eruvion then looked back at the girls.

"Celeborn will be reasonable to your cause, if not the first time then the second. If he tries saying no Galadriel and I will talk to him. I have known him a long time and have as much influence over him as I do Thranduil and Ivochyl." The ancient elf lord gave them a sardonic smile. "He was a good child, if inclined to temper occasionally and very disinclined to change his mind. Be glad though, that you are no asking for a betrothal to a dwarf!" They laughed at the lame joke. Eruvion's description of Celeborn as a child did not stir their confidence in getting what they wanted.

With Celeborn and Ivochyl

They sat down in Celeborn's office, in a flet with little around it and so in relative privacy for an elfin realm. The pair sat in silence for a while, giving each other hard looks before Ivochyl spoke up.

"You already know the reason for this conversation, do you not?" Celeborn gave her a tight nod. "Lets skip to the point then, will you agree to a betrothal between Mithiliel, your great great niece, not to mention cousin once removed and by default of that relation as well as by your actions, making you her guardian, and my brother King Thranduil of Greenwood the Great." Though Ivochyl's tone was suitably polite, her expression was icy. Celeborn stared at the blonde princess for a long while before answering.

"I neither like no trust your brother, especially with _my daughter_. "The influence on the last two words were slight but clearly there. "Why exactly should I allow your petition on his behalf?" Ivochyl's jaw tightened as she resisted the temptation to role her eyes.

"Really, prince Celeborn, I do believe you already know the answer to that. Mithiliel loves him, he adores her to an extent that really isn't sane and you know that, whatever your personal feelings, he will look after her at least as well as any other Ellyn and probably better but if you do not allow this then you will make her very unhappy and since you and the Lady are already walking a thin line right now I really don't think denying her marriage to the elf she loves would be a very good idea." Celeborn's head shot up at the last comment and he stared at her before a look of anguish crossed his face. He then buried his head in his hands and started to shake. The over emotion of the previous day or so was obviously still effecting him. Though Ivochyl was far from the kindest elf around, she was not heartless and so she went round the desk to hold and comfort the elf-lord. Eventually he stopped shaking and looked up at the princess, heart in his eyes.

"Do you think she will ever truly forgive me, Iva?" Ivochyl smiled at the ancient nickname that she hadn't had used since the fall of Doriath.

"Mith is one of those naturally forgiving people Celeborn, she probably will, but I think forgiveness will come much more easily if you get over your dislike of my brother. Believe it or not, I'm not doing this for any great fondness of Thranduil. Apparently he does have a soft side but I think Mith is the primary receiver of that. They do adore each other and they will make a lovely couple who will be good for the Greenwood as well as each other. You do not have to worry about Mith, in the highly unlikely event Thranduil is anything less than a gentle-elf to her I will have whapped his ass before you even get to hear of it, no fear!" Celeborn laughed at the last comment. He could just imagine his childhood acquaintance doing just that.

"Alright, tell him yes but if he hurts her then there will be another round to the kinslayings and what was done to Doriath by the Feanorionnath will look like the warm up act in comparison!" Ivochy; laughed at that, she knew that Celeborn would probably never carry that threat out but her brother didn't and hopeful suitors were always amusingly jumpy, she had noticed. She would love to deliver that threat to her brother.

"Shall I tell him at the midday meal? I am sure you want to see his face when I deliver that threat as much as I do, it will be immensely amusing." Celeborn just grinned at her. He could get to like this girl he decided.

At lunch time, Mithiliel Pov

Mith and Celebrian sat side by side in the dining hall, both rather tense, though Celebrian was absently fiddling with the silver ring that adorned her finger. Galadriel and Glorfindel were also there, talking quietly in Quenya about something or other. The next into the room was the three monarchs who were talking surprisingly congenially. It appeared that if they actually got past the national stereotypes then they could get on well. Finally Ivochyl and Celeborn entered the room. Both were wearing slightly impish mysterious expressions.

Despite the tense, curious looks of Mith, Thranduil and Celebrian, the pair refused to humour them by telling them how the conversation had gone. All three failed to notice that everyone else seemed to have worked out that the expressions answered their question.

Eventually, Thranduil lost patience with his sister and with Celeborn.

"Will you two stop smirking and tell me how it went?" Both elves burst out laughing. It was rather clear that they had both been enjoying the obvious distress of the elves in question. Eventually Ivochyl regained her composure. She drew in a breath and drew herself up at the same time. She then smiled at her brother coolly and began to speak.

"Celeborn gives his permission but would like to add that if you hurt her then the kingslaying in Doriath will look like a warm up act comparatively speaking." Thranduil, who had breathed out a sigh of relief at the permission, went white with the threat. He then began to move onto anger at the notion he would ever hurt Mith. Ivochyl placed her hand on his arm calmingly. Something seemed to pass between the pair silently and Thranduil's shoulders slumped. He took a few calming breaths and then looked at Eruvion who, wearing wry smile, drew out another small box and handed it over.

Thranduil then rose and went to kneel beside Mith and opened the box. He looked up at her almost questioningly and held up the pair of rings resting on the tiny cushion inside the box. Mith smiled at him, sensing his nervousness and took his ring out of the box and slipped it onto Thranduil's finger, a gesture which he returned. Once they were both wearing rings, Thranduil rose again, and in the process, swept Mith into his arms and kissed her soundly.

XXX

Galadriel, Mithiliel, Celebrian and Ivochyl prepared for the evening's festivities together that afternoon. Ivochyl wore a deep emerald green which looked surprisingly good on her for a person with such a pale complexion while both Galadriel and Celebrian wore white and Mithiliel wore a deep blue-grey colour. Ivochyl was escorted to the ball by Eruvion and the other three were escorted by their respective partners.

When they got to the party they were surprised by the fact that, on his arm, King Amroth had Nimrodel. Nimrodel was a solitary sylvan elf that lived in a cave in one of the more distant parts of Lorien. Everyone in Lorien knew that Nimrodel and Amroth were lovers, what surprised them was that she'd agreed to come to the party. It was not something the lady in question did generally. Much to Mith's amazement, not to mention her betrothed's, Nimrodel greeted Ivochyl familiarly.

When they moved away for a few moments to greet some friends Thranduil asked his sister about it.

"Oh, long ago I decided that, since I would always irritate Oropher, that I would not be around to suffer his irritation and so would go off travelling instead, which irritated him even more but since I wasn't around that didn't bother me, and on one of those trips I happened to meet Nimrodel. We don't know each other very well but I like her all the same." Mith noticed that, unless she was being sarcastic, Ivochyl never referred to King Oropher as her father.

Not long after that Amroth called both new couples to him and he called for silence from the crowd who were more than willing to shut up with the looks of an interesting speech on the horizon. After a suitably dramatic pause (ended by Nimrodel elbowing him in the stomach) Amroth started.

"As you are all probably aware by now, the daughters of the Lady of Light and Lord Celeborn have gone away from our fair realm and returned for but only a short time. I am also sure you all know why they're time remaining in this fair realm is limited. That reason is that each has become betrothed, as of the last day, to a Lord of another elfin realm. The Lady Celebrian has chosen Lord Elrond, son of Prince Earendil of Gondolin and Princess Elwin god Doriath, the Lord of Imladris. Lady Mithiliel, herself not only our daughter but also the daughter of Prince Elurin of Doriath, has chosen King Thranduil of Greenwood the Great. Through these choice has increased peace and understanding been created between realms and we hope will continue to increase and as King of this Realm I add my blessings to their unions on top og Lord Celeborns and those of the families of all other parties involved. May their unions be long, happy and fruitful!" There was a great cheer at that, though Mith could see several people were not all that happy at the notion of having to put aside their customary enmity for Thranduil.

That night the alcohol flowed heavily and many people (almost entirely males) got rather drunk. At some point Amroth and Nimrodel disappeared off, as did many other couples. Eventually Thranduil led Mithiliel away to her talan and they shared a longing kiss before parting. They both knew the customary betrothal period would be trying on them both. Mith's thoughts then flickered to another elleth of her acquaintance and she suddenly thought of a way she could make the time go oh so much quicker.


	10. Chapter 10

Grey Dawn 10

A few days later Mith and Celebrian were sitting in their room, curled up with a bowl of sweetmeats and some wine, winging about tradition. Mostly the one where they had to be separated from their betrothed's for a year before marrying them, to give a minimum time scale. By the looks of it, their parents would be insisting on a longer time period, plus a bit of time after the separation for preparations for a suitable pair of royal weddings. The decade would probably have turned before they actually got to marry. Alright, a few years wasn't really that long to an elf but when you wanted to be married and weren't allowed to be, even a few weeks seemed a long time.

"What are we going to do with all this time alone, Mith?" Celebrian asked disconsolately. She had been hoping for more time with Elrond before they got separated. Well, they had the rest of the week with their beloved before both parties left for home but still...

"Dunno exactly, though I do have a few ideas." Her blonde sister turned to her with a raised eyebrow. "I was thinking of suggesting he found a way to officially break the bond between Ivochyl and whatever-his-name-was, you know - her pathetic excuse for a husband. Then she will be free to marry someone she loves. It would be interesting, if nothing else." Celebrian's eyes had lit up.

"Mith, you are a genius! That would be fantastic!" Celebrian hugged her sister and then the pair got down to what they apparently did best – plotting.

XXX

"Thranduil? Do you have a minute?" Mith asked the pensive looking king. HE looked up and smiled at her.

"For you Mith, I have the rest of eternity." HE said with a roguish grin. Mith laughed and led him off somewhere private.

"Celebrian had this little idea, but we sort of require you to carry it out." He looked at her suspiciously. "You know Ivochyl is not happy? Well we sort of thought of a thing we think will make her more happy" Thranduil raised his eyebrow enquiringly. "WE thought that maybe, if you looked through the Laws of the Greenwood then maybe you could find something that makes it possible to officially break her marriage bond. Then she would be able to find an elf she loves to marry. We thought that would make her much happier." Mith looked up at her beloved with wide eyes and adorably caught lip. Thranduil was too busy staring into space thoughtfully to notice though. After a few moments he spoke.

"If there isn't such a law, then I shall make one. Maybe that will go a way to earning me her forgiveness." It was Mith's turn to raise an eyebrow. Thranduil smiled slightly at her "I do love my sister you know, and I want her to be happy. I always felt a bit responsible for not standing up to Ada about it. He really was terrible to her." Suddenly he kissed Mith and swung her up into the air, laughing. "I do love you Mith!" he said as he brought her down into his arms for another kiss.

XXX

"If it does not cause any problem, I would like to stay here in Lorien for a while. Apart from anything else I think I would like to get to know my future sister in law better, not to mention stop her from blowing up at her separation. Plus I can tell her all sorts of embarrassing stories about Thranduil when he was young!" Everyone laughed at the last point Ivochyl made. Amroth smiled at her gently.

"You are more than welcome to stay Princess, especially if you will also share those stories with me!" Everyone laughed again. Though relations with the Greenwood had been significantly improved in the visit, things could still be quite tense and whether these crack were funny or not, they all got a laugh (if sometimes a little strained).

Mith and Thranduil smiled at each other however, her staying with Mith just made it easier for their plan to go ahead without Ivochyl finding out before they were ready. Eeryone took the exchange of glances a love struck couple looks and there were many of the looks people passed round when people acted love struck – somewhere between amusement and exasperation.

Four days later the Thranduil's party left for Mirkwood and Elrond's for Imladris. Their leaving the golden wood was companied by many fond farewells, promises to write often and the other things that accompanied farewells when the time spent apart would be long. There were also a few helpful tips to Thranduil on the subject of his letter writing style, along the lines of 'please don't put any thee's, thou's or any high speech in fact'. Mith wasn't sure whether she should hold her breath on that one.

That evening Mith, Celebrian and Ivochyl curled up together with more sweetmeats and warm wine, comfort foods in other words. There seemed to be huge potential for great friendship between the three.

XXX

_In Greenwood, a couple of month's later_

"Why do you want to do this my king? What purpose would it serve, and it is an affront! An ellyth should be loyal to her husband and lord!" Thranduil rolled his eyes as the pathetic arch conservative that he hadn't convinced to sail yet yabbered on. He had always found the ellon tiresome but he was too highly thought of by influential families to get rid of. He suddenly perked, if this annoyed him enough then maybe the annoying old (insert insult here) would go and sail, leaving him in peace.

"Why I want to do this is really none of your business, I am king and my rule is absolute. I want my sister to be free of that pathetic excuse of a deceased elf father forced her to marry. Since it will also allow for others, both ellyth and Ellyn, to be free of unwanted spouses. This is not the years of the Trees (AN: the closest I can think of to the dark ages) and we are civilised you know, I have this strange thing about my people being happy so, whether you like it or not I _am _going to make it possible for people to free themselves of unwanted mates." The officious lord who probably thought soap and writing and strange things like that were new inventions that might prove dangerous and shouldn't be trusted stared at his king before storming out of the chamber with a cry of 'Outrageous!'. Thranduil smirked. That had felt _so_ good. "Any other objections?" he asked pleasantly. No one took him up on that.

XXX

That night Thranduil sat down and looked over the law. Yes, that would do it. He had to laugh, this law was getting better and better, the officious ass he announced at dinner that he and his entire family were packing up and sailing to Valinor. One or two other thorns in Thranduils side had decided to go with him in the same party. Several thorns in his side would be gone and his sister made happy and free, what more could he want?

_Back in Lorien_

Much to the shock of the Lorien elves, to distract Celebrian and Mith, Ivochyl had suggested that they go train with weapons. When the two in question commented that they had no more than a basic grasp of fighting then the golden elleth had decided to train them. Most of the males had a heart attack when the three ellyth came down to the training fields in leggings, tunics and armed. When one of the younger (and stupider) Ellyn made a not particularly quiet comment about the ellyth fighting Ivochyl gave him what she refered to as an 'object lesson'.

It was almost painful to watch her deflect his clumsy attack with ease and reposte with insultingly easy moves, leaving a number of painful, humiliating but not serious injuries on the insolent young ellon. No one made any rude comments after that, or at least not in hearing distance of Ivochyl.

They were in the training fields practicing again when a Mirkwood messenger galloped into the city at breakneck speed. Shortly after, King Amroth called the ellyth to him at Cerin Amroth.

THe messenger was still out of breath when they arrived in the King's office and the King himself seemed to be in an advanced state of shock himself. The messenger bowed to Ivochyl and raised a letter to her.

"Princess Ivochyl, a letter from your brother. I advise you sit down before you read it, Lady, for if it contains what I believe it to, then the shockwaves are only beginning."


	11. Chapter 11

Grey Dawn 11

Ivochyl took the letter and sat down, giving the messenger a strange look. The pale faced Amroth passed her over a letter knife with an ornately jewelled handle. Still frowning, she took the knife and slit open the letter then unfolded it and began to read. After a few lines she gasped and as she continued to read she also paled.

"What is it Iva?" Celebrian asked. Everyone had unconsciously picked up the usage of Celeborn's old nickname for her. Iva looked up, totally white, and handed to Celebrian who read it out loud.

_Dear Ivochyl_

_I hope this letter reaches you in good health. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of recent legal changes in Greenwood the Great that affect you directly. I thought you might appreciate me telling you about them, not to mention how they affect you._

_If you want the exact legal paper and it's wording then I have sent a copy to King Amroth (who is probably in an advanced state of shock if he has already read the law) but in this letter, I give it to you in simplified terms relating how it affects you._

_The law states that if so wished by the party in question then a widowed ellon or ellyth may dissolve their marriage bond and be free to find a new mate. Also, if the marriage is an arranged one and if one or both parties do not wish to remain in marriage then it may also be dissolved after examination by the king or a selected representative. In other words by either criteria, you can now get you bond (I will not insult you by writing his name) dissolved and you are free to marry again. All you have to do is write to me declaring that you do want me to dissolve it._

_Love, you lovely younger brother, Thranduil._

Everyone in the room stared as Mith punched the air and let out a cry of yes. Everyone else seemed to be having fits of apoplexy and her reaction was definitely out of place. She looked at her king, sister and soon-to-be-sister-in-law and tried for an innocent look. It failed. Armroth raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'm guessing by that reaction, that you knew that was coming." Mith bit her lip, looked up in the air and nodded. "How?" Amroth was suddenly on the receiving end of a manic grin.

"I might just have been the one to suggest such a notion to Thranduil, who seemed to think it was a very good idea. He does love his sister very much." Everyone in the room continued to stare at Mith. Eventually Iva spoke.

"You mean that you and Thranduil cooked this new law up purely for me?" Mith nodded, still staring at the ceiling. "Why?"

"Because we thought it would be nice for you to be single so that you could find someone you actually love to marry. Thranduil regrets not having done anything to stop Oropher forcing you to marry whatever his name was in the first place." Iva looked slightly shocked at that and seemed to be trying to work it out in her head, shaking it occasionally.

XXX

As Thranduil had predicted, the entirety of Lorien (not to mention everywhere else that elves resided) went into wave of shock at the pronouncement. Iva was not the only elf in the Greenwood to take the kings decree up though. The majority of those elves were female, Thranduil noted in one of his letters. It was a sad comment on the way some Ellyn treated their daughters particularly. They were not supposed to be able to force marriage when they made a pretence to be worried about love particularly in unions.

XXX

As is got closer to the weddings, planning began. First they would go Imladris and get Celebrian safely married off to Elrond, wait out the 'couple locked in the room coz they were continuously randy' (as Iva called it) period and once Elrond and Celebrian could be stopped from jumping each other for a reasonable period of time they would ride off to the Greenwood so Mith could marry Thranduil.

In accordance with the 'not seeing each other till they were actually about to get married' rule, Thranduil would not be attending the wedding of Celebrian and Elrond but would be waiting for them in the Greenwood, hense timing since Mith wanted her sister present at her wedding.

The closeness of weddings also resulted in all the maidens of Lorien gathering round the two soon-to-be brides and soon large percentages of the days were filled with the construction of two beautiful wedding gowns. Celebrians was to be pale blue with silver embroidery while Miths was to be forest green. Both colours had been chosen because of who the girls were marrying. Suddenly it occurred to Mith that being married to Thranduil might have the unexpected perk of her not being expected to wear grey all the time.

Many letters were passed between realms, trying to organise the weddings. Absently, Mith noted that it was probably the most communication between realms that had happened since the founding of those respective realms.

XXX

As soon as the snow thawed and the roads became passable they began to prepare to leave for Imladris. During that time both Iva and Mith were frequently called in to calm Celebrian's nerves. There was no doubt that her fair haired sister was hopelessly in love but she was insanely nervous as well. Actually, she was so nervous that they considered putting her in a carriage instead because a horse would be able to sense her mood and would be equally nervous. A nervous horse was the last thing they wanted.

The ride across the mountains was relaxed and even King Amroth was joking around a bit. For some reason, Mith and Celebrian had been surprised that the king was coming along, especially as he would follow on with them to Greenwood the Great. No matter how much joking around was going on, Celebrian was amazingly on edge, much to the amusement of most people around her. Mith had the common sense not to comment at all. She had a feeling that she would be just as bad on the journey to her own wedding.

Eventually though, they did reach the hidden valley and Mith was amused to hear most of the party draw in deep breaths of surprise. Very few of the elves in the party had seen Imladris before (including King Amroth) and they were highly surprised by the beauty of the place. They probably had not thought anywhere, especially a stone city, could be as beautiful as the Golden wood.

With a slight smile, Mith looked back at the group and the awed looks on the faces of the elves and the wide eyed look on the face of Amroth and led the party down to the city. Dazedly, they followed her down.

At the front courtyard of The Last Homely House they stopped and were met by Elrond, Erestor and Glorfindel. What surprised them all was that Eruvion was also there. He smiled very gently at them and the coughed unsubtly at Elrond and Celebrian who were glued to each other, kissing rather inappropriately considering they were not married and were not only in public but in front of Celebrian's parents.

After all the greetings were done, Mith's friend swept forward and pulled Mith, Celebrian and Iva away to gossip leaving all the males behind. Mith had to smile at the longing look Elrond threw at his betrothed, apparently not liking that his betrothed was being dragged away when he hadn't seen her for literally years.

Mith very nearly laughed when she saw that Elrond wasn't the only one who was not looking so impressed with the three of them being taken off to do girly things. She made a not to tell Thranduil at the next opportunity, he would probably find it as amusing as she did.


	12. Chapter 12

AN: As you might have noticed, i've slightly changed the chapters as i accidently missed one out in posting, so there are actually two new chapters up, just there is one between the previous chapter and the one before that. Sorry for the mix up, i wasn't very awake when i posted those bits.

Grey dawn 12

It was about a week since they arrived and Mith, Iva and Galadriel were standing around Celebrian and calming her down while helping her to prepare. The official ceremony was to be at an hour past noon, to give them time to eat as well as prepare though Mith doubted that Celebrian would be eating anything. The servants still served out a light lunch though, which everyone else at least picked at before weaving the freshly cut flowers into Celebrian's hair. Celebrian was visibly shaking as they led her out the room, though she was blushing significantly as well. That was almost certainly because Iva and Galadriel (both wearing mischievous grins) had spent the morning giving her 'The Talk'. If Mith hadn't known what her sister would be getting up to tonight, she no longer had any illusions.

At around half an hour after midday, the party left Celebrian's temporary rooms to go to a large lawn behind Elrond's house. Mith smiled to see all the elves gathered to see Celebrian and Elrond married off. THe entire area was decorated with flowers and flowing strips of blue and white fabric.

Amroth was standing at the front of the crowd with Elrond to his side who had Erestor and Glorfindel standing with him. Mith wondered what Earendil would have thought of who replaced him at his eldest son's wedding. After she had escorted Celebrian down the aisle she would actually go to stand with Elrond as his only living relative. Technically it was supposed to be a male relative (preferably his father) that stood with an elf on his marriage day but there was a bit of a lack of those.

Amroth actually officiated purely because he was the ranking elf there that was not getting married himself. The vows between the two were simple and they both managed (just) to say them without their voices quivering before they were allowed to kiss, which they did enthusiastically. As they glued themselves together in another of those too-passionate-for-public kisses a cheer went up from everyone there.

Once the newlyweds had been separated they were taken onto the feasting hall to celebrate their binding.

Throughout the meal and the dancing afterwards, neither Celebrian nor Elrond was able to keep their eyes off each other and rarely noticed anyone else. Mith did notice the pair looking towards the doors frequently and smiled quietly. Apparently whoever set the wedding traditions thought it was funny to test the average couple's patience and escapology capabilities. There were far too many people around for there to be any chance of Celebrian and Elrond escaping.

Around sunset the families and closest friend of the couple gathered round them and escorted them to their new quarters. Well, actually they were Elrond's but they had be touched up in recognition of the fact that there was to be a new resident there. Mith was certain the Celebrian would still make changes – well once she could stop doing certain other things with her husband.

Once the happy couple were safely locked in their room everyone went back to the party. Mith looked around at the amount of alcohol being drunk and came to the conclusion that it was a very good job elves couldn't get human hangover's or else the entirety of Imladris would have a killer headache the next morning.

XXX

It was just over a week before the pair came out of their rooms and they were horribly distracted when they did. Mith was glad they had planned in a recovery time for the couple else they would have either been horribly late or married without Celebrian and Elrond. They did wake up enough to blush at the baby cracks though.

Everyone prepared to go on around them though, all having expected this. This time Erestor was coming with them by popular demand and was leaving his best assistant in charge instead. Eruvion seemed as amused by that as Mith was, having obviously spotted what Mith had. One time the two of them had been watching Erestor be conspicuous about things and then they had looked at each other. Both nearly had to run off so as not to be caught laughing. Neither could wait to tell Thranduil, no doubt he would be over the moon.

XXX

IT was about a month after the wedding that the party, now including the Imladris group. It was amusing going across the Redhorn pass, the party seemed to take up most of the pass.

When they got to the outer borders of the Greenwood they were met by a large party of Greenwood elves, with expressions remarkably like those of the marchwardens of Lorien when Thranduil had came to visit. Polite and pretending not to be hostile.

They were led through the dark eves of the wood to the Palace by the blond elves. Mith had thought the first time she had been led along this path had been tense but the presence of Galadriel, Celeborn, Elrond and Glorfindel (amongst others) made it infinitely more so.

Eventually they got to the palace and were met by an enthusiastic Thranduil who skipped propriety and pulled Mith into his arms for a deep kiss. She had no doubt he had missed her in their separation. There was a laugh behind her and they turned round to see Amroth laughing.

"I guess you missed out grey lady, Thranduil." Thranduil grinned slightly and laughed with the king. Mith could see the all the rulers in the party were being conspicuously friendly to each other however. Mith could spot politics when she saw them.

Thranduil then snagged her waist and refused to let go of it while he went round and greeted the members of the party. Mith blushed the entire time, mostly because everyone was wearing the same knowing grin that was distinctly amused and very embarrassing. Thankfully, it wasn't too long before the introductions were over so Mith was saved too much embarrassment.

Thranduil then proceeded to keep her waist captive as he showed them to their rooms and the precise reason why was revealed once they were on their own. He led her to his own sitting room and proceeded to carry on his earlier greeting. Very little talk happened as Thranduil used a more direct method to show her how much he missed and loved her. Even when he stopped kissing her, Mith could not speak due to breathlessness. She then threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again.

XXX

Once again they waited about a week for the actual wedding and many of the young maidens, not to mention many of the older ellyth flocked round Mith to help her prepare for her wedding. Mith was slightly surprised at the warmth of the ellyth this time round, they had been singularly cold last time she was here. Probably because they still had a chance of getting Thranduil or their daughter getting Thranduil the previous time but this time she was to be queen.

Their marriage was, like with Celebrian and Elrond's wedding, to take place in a clearing outside the palace, though this one was rather larger as most of the Greenwood wanted to come to see their king get hitched. There had not been a royal wedding since Ivochyl's and that hadn't really been a happy occasion – all things considered. If Mith knew the princess of Greenwood the Great then she would have gone through the ceremony with a face like thunder and been most ungracious about her forced wedding.

XXX

On the day Mith limited those round her to her family, well Ivochyl was going to be her family by the afternoon. Mith didn't know why but Thranduil had told her to wear her hair down for the ceremony, she guessed that he liked her hair down.

Shortly after lunch time they left the soaring palace to go to the clearing where the wedding was. Until then Mith had been quite calm, very so compared with Celebrian but as they got closer to the wedding area she got continuously more nervous. When they arrived, she was virtually shaking.

The clearing had been down up beautifully and was _very_ full. At the other end was Thranduil who had Eruvion beside him instead of his father and Amroth, who was officiating again, was there as well. As he saw her, he smiled at her reassuringly and she breathed a sigh of relief. Then Thranduil, possibly tipped off by Amroth's expression, turned round then and everything else went out of Mith's mind. All that mattered now was her beautiful soon-to-be mate.

Mith had very little memory of actually how she got to the front and next to Thranduil, she just remembered her husband. The words they said didn't register though the fact that Thranduil was stroking her cheek as he spoke his words. Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her somehow being both gentle and passionate at the same time.

Then, much to her amazement, he added a bit that – as far as Mith was aware – hadn't been planned in. She couldn't remember exactly what was said but Ivochyl came forward with a stunning silver circlet with emeralds and diamonds in it and placed it on Miths head, crowning her as Queen of Greenwood the Great. She then hugged Mith and welcomed her into the family.

XXX

The festivities went on far too long as far as Mith was concerned but Thranduil proved, once again, that he was rather more cunning than Elrond in that they _did_ sneak away successfully.

Once in their room, Thranduil pulled her close and kissed her rather thoroughly before letting go and looking into her eyes.

"You know, my father probably wouldn't approve, I just realised that I really don't care." He whispered and laughed gently before kissing her. Mith laughed lightly too before leaning up and taking off his crown and placing it on the side and he returned the gesture before turning back to her and caressing her cheek gently. "There were times I never thought I would be so lucky as to have you for my queen, Mith."

Mith smiled gently and kissed him as he unlaced her dress. As the silk gown slid off her shoulders, she looked up at the golden haired elf in front of her.

"I do love you Thranduil of the Greenwood." She whispered. From then on very few words were uttered.


	13. Chapter 13

Grey Dawn 13

Mith didn't pay attention to how the time passed during the next few days, which was easy with her wonderful husband there dominating her focus. She wasn't sure when it came, but one of the things she noticed was that her name formed in the Twenga-script across his left bicep at some point in delicate blue letters.* Some investigation in the bathing room revealed that the letters were permanent and after a certain amount of thought Thranduil was able to explain them to her.

"It is a Sindar thing, I am now bound to you and those letters mark our binding. Only the ellon is marked as such, but that mark is across my heart and marks you as the holder of my heart." He then smiled and kissed her before, once again, distracting her with something far more interesting.

XXX

It was probably about a week or so after their binding that the new couple left their quarters for the first time, though even then, neither could really concentrate on anything other than each other. Everyone around them seemed amused, well bar Celebrian and Elrond, who were nearly as bad.

The first thing that she really remembered was them all leaving and saying a farewell to them. It was strange to think that now she really would never call Lorien home again. Greenwood the Great was her home now.

Very quickly she fitted in to the routine of Queen, with all the practice she had got in Imladris and found she had no time to dwell on the changes in her life as, though the work was now split between her and Thranduil, there was still a ridiculous amount of work to do. Mithiliel wondered how on Arda he managed it or whether people were just making more work now there were two people to do it.

XXX

It was about twenty years later when they got the news. When she got the letter and read it she flung her arms round Thranduil's neck with a laugh and a publicly inappropriate kiss. He sat there with a confused look on his face, not having read the letter himself.

"What has you so happy, meleth nin? What did Celebrian say?" Mithiliel was so happy and excited that she kissed him a few times before answering.

"Celebrian is pregnant! With twins!" She laughed and kissed him yet again as he stared at her in shock. Eventually he was able to talk again.

"You mean that the Peredhil beat us to it? You mean they are actually going to have children first?" Mithiliel laughed at her husband. So much for friendliness between realms. Thranduil obviously still felt there was reason for 'friendly' competition.

"I am afraid, husband mine, that you are not going to get me pregnant until Celebrian's children are old enough to travel because I _am_ going to have my sister at any births of my children and she can't do that until these twins are old enough." Thranduil sighed.

"If you insist, meleth nin." She laughed and kissed him again

XXX

A few months later, Mithiliel rode off with an escort and Ivochyl to Imladris. Unfortunately, Thranduil couldn't come with her just yet, but he would come later on, closer to the birth time and mostly to stop Elrond going mad during the birthing process. Elrond was a healer and the fact that the midwives would probably chuck him out of the birthing room would drive him insane.

Ivochyl and Mithiliel, on the other hand, would spend several months either side of the birth in Imladris helping out their law-sister through the difficult process of not only bearing children, but bearing two at the same time.

As suspected, when they arrived Elrond was somewhere between very proud and very nervous and Celebrian was glowing, though her stomach looked like a rising moon. Elrond was also over solicitous and you could see Celebrian's frustration at how much he seemed to suddenly think she was incapable of anything heavier than sewing. Healers were supposed to know better than that.

Ellyn!

It was during this time that Mithiliel rediscovered the usefulness of being the lord of the realm's cousin in that she could order him to do or, more often, not do certain things. Ivochyl and Mithiliel took turns in being with Celebrian and getting Elrond to stop fussing over his wife. If it didn't irritate them so much, it would have been funny.

About a month before Celebrian was due, Thranduil, Celeborn and Galadriel all arrived. Both ellyn took over the role of Elrond-watching while Galadriel joined Ivochyl and Mithiliel in looking after Celebrian, who could no longer see her feet and really could only embroider now, but she did _not_ need to remain in bed whatever her husband thought. Galadriel's presence helped, as she had actually given birth and she could reassure her daughter in a way Ivochyl and Mithiliel could not. Celebrian had been very scared about the birth – though she would never have admitted that to Elrond. He was bad enough without being given reasons to fuss.

XXX

Autumn was setting in properly outside the Hidden Valley when Celebrian went into labour. Celeborn and Thranduil dragged Elrond to the other side of Imladris while the ladies, along with a midwife took Celebrian into a healing room to give birth.

The better part of a day later the twins, a pair of beautiful baby boys with their father's dark hair, arrived. Once they were sure the infants were fine, they sent an ecstatic servant to get the males back. By the time they had been retrieved, Celebrian had been tidied up and the children cleaned as well. Elrond entered the room looking more than slightly dazed followed by the two amused blonde Lords. Despite knowing that he would be having twin sons he looked a bit surprised to see two of them.

First he took the elder and touched his forelock in benediction and whispered:

"Hail Elladan, my son." Then he did the same with his second son, except changing the said name to Elrohir. Elf-Númenorian and Elf-knight, Mithiliel smiled at the names. Both seemed highly appropriate for the sons of Elrond. She had no doubt the boys would be great Elves.

XXX

The next week the children were deemed ready to be formally presented to their land with a now mostly recovered Celebrian. Everyone in the Hidden Valley was absolutely over the moon at the birth, though there was fairly small group of people in 'the circle' as Thranduil named it. That is the group of people allowed into the 'pass the baby' game, another Thranduil name. Mithiliel absently wondered whether he would quite like this when _she_ had just given birth. She suspected not for some reason.

About a month after the birth, though, Thranduil had to return to the Greenwood, but Mithiliel remained in Imladris to carry on supporting her sister until the twins were a little older, as did Ivochyl. Both new parents were exceptionally glad for the familial help, though Mithiliel thought that Ivochyl might have ulterior motives for remaining in Imladris.

Once the winter passed and the spring rains had finished, she could not put off her return to the Greenwood and her royal duties any longer. Much to her surprise, Ivochyl elected to remain in Imladris with the babies. Though, when Mithiliel thought about it, she could guess at the reason why her sister-in- law wanted to remain. She would have so much fun explaining it to Thranduil, especially if he went into protective brother mode.

XXX

When she arrived home, Mithiliel was immediately swept away in her duties and didn't get chance to speak with her beloved over her suspicions about why Ivochyl had remained in Imladris. After not too long, she forgot about it.

XXX

About a decade later, Thranduil managed to arrange time for another visit to Imladris for the pair of them, which had Mithiliel very excited. It had been far too long since she had seen her nephews and the letters from Celebrian and Ivochyl were simply not the same as being there to see the twins.

When they arrived, they were met by two highly excited young boys, who both seemed a little shocked to see that 'Nana's sister' had dark hair like Ada. That took a while to explain to the young boys, who were each still learning to speak. Once that was dealt with, the two of them glued themselves to their aunt and uncle, probably because they had brought presents and young children are by definition mercenary.

One thing they noticed was that Ivochyl seemed unusually content, neither Thranduil nor Mithiliel had ever seen the Princess look so happy and wondered why, though Mithiliel had a good idea why. She decided Thranduil's confusion was too amusing to tell him as of yet, especially as she wanted to try and confirm her suspicions with Celebrian before saying anything to her husband.

XXX

Mithiliel giggled as Thranduil kissed her neck, an amorous gleam in his eye. He gently pushed her up against a pillar, his thoughts clearly written on his face.

"Not here, let's find somewhere more private. One of the private gardens maybe."

Thranduil growled deep in his throat, obviously not liking having to hold off even for a few minutes, but nodded and allowed her to lead him to a garden.

When they got to where Mithiliel had in mind, they both stopped and stared at what was going on in front of them in pure undiluted shock, all amorousness gone in their total surprise.

XXXXXXX

*Incidentally, I don't know if Tolkien put anything in about the tattoo on Thranduil's chest. I have read in several fanfictions that there is at least on he has on his chest and it is somehow related to his wife. I thought it would be nice to put in and filled in the gaps in my knowledge with the produce of my imagination. If this is wrong, or slightly different from what Tolkien put do tell, but please forgive me. This is only a story for reader entertainment. Gaia Caecilia.


	14. Chapter 14

Na merye i turuhalmeril! Mereth Veren e-Doled Eruion! (if your wondering, thats Merry Christmas [approximately] in Quenya and Sindarin)

Hopefully this is a good one for the special day we is all celebrating today. *Goes back to reading her copy of Alexandr Orlov, the famous meerkats biography* (this may be an english only thing i accept but i am sure you will all appreciate the wierdness of the fact that one thing i recieved was a Barak and Michelle Obama paper doll and cutout book. I like politics but what the hell? My parents are wierd. Thankfully this is only one of my 'small stocking presents' proper ones turn up after lunch.)

Grey Dawn 14

Both rulers of Greenwood the Great stared in utter shock as they watched the uptight, quiet chief-councillor of Imladris chase Princess Ivochyl of Greenwood the Great round the garden as she ran (not too fast, but giggling hard) away from him. After a not too enthusiastic, but clearly highly enjoyed, chase, Erestor pinned Ivochyl to a tree and kissed her gently.

Ivochyl responded with obvious enthusiasm and just as it was getting to the stage where they really should have stopped, considering the pair were not even officially courting, Thranduil regained his faculties enough to react. Unfortunately, though, it was not enough to make an articulate reaction. The King went into an extended coughing fit, largely because, in his shock, he had stopped breathing.

The noise got the two to pull away from each other _very_ fast and turn round to see who was making the coughs. When they saw who it was, it was hard to guess which had gone whiter. Mithiliel noted in amusement that Erestor's eyes immediately checked for weapons on Thranduil. He was apparently worried about Thranduil's reaction.

Eventually Thranduil got over his coughing fit and turned to Mithiliel.

"Please tell me I am imagining things, I did not just see my sister kiss Erestor, did I?" Not entirely sure what to say, Mithiliel just nodded at her husband. He closed his eyes and put his hand over his eyes as he tried to some to terms with this discovery.

Ivochyl and Erestor were standing on the other side of the clearing, looking worriedly at Thranduil and Mithiliel, hands clasped together. Eventually Thranduil looked up at them.

"How long?" Ivochyl bit her lip and looked at Erestor, clearly not really wanting to answer. Erestor didn't look too inclined either. Mithiliel took pity on the pair, who were obviously very embarrassed.

"I think there has been at least attraction between the pair since before we were married. I'm sure Eruvion noticed it too, we both meant to tell you that we thought it would happen, but never got round to it. Actually, I thought there might be a chance of it when I suggested that change that would make Ivochyl single." The last comment made them all stare at her in shock.

"You've known for that long? We didn't even act on it 'til when I came for the twins' birth!" Ivochyl uttered in shock, inadvertently answering her brother's question. Thranduil blinked several times, looking between all three Elves. Eventually he spoke again.

"I need some time to get over the shock. I will want to speak with you later, Erestor." The dark Elf nodded, somehow contriving to get even whiter. "Don't even think about running away, else I will hunt you down and ensure you are unable to bind with _any_ elleth. Am I clear?" Erestor nodded again, having just gone even whiter. Mithiliel didn't realise that Elves could get that white.

XXX

By the evening, Thranduil was over his shock enough to talk with Erestor about the events earlier that day. While the males were talking, Mithiliel sat with Ivochyl, Elrond, Celebrian, Glorfindel and the twins in a private sitting room, waiting for them to return. When they had explained what had gone on to the rest of the group, Elrond and Celebrian had also stared in shock while Glorfindel had burst out laughing and started passing out congratulations for shocking Thranduil.

The only reason there was not a tense atmosphere with stilted conversation was the fact the twins were incapable of silence and had no concept of unease, for which Ivochyl was undoubtedly very grateful. After what still seemed like an Age, a very stressed Thranduil returned with a white, but pleased looking Erestor. Elrond looked up with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you haven't killed him which I suppose is a blessing at least," he uttered sarcastically. One of the twins then looked up curiously.

"Why would uncle Th-wand-il want to kill Err-est-or?" Both young boys had great trouble pronouncing names still, though Mithiliel suspected they over did the phonetic pronunciations because they thought it was cute. Glorfindel looked down at the little boy and smiled.

"Because brothers are supposed to be protective of their sisters and Erestor and Ivochyl are in a relationship that brothers don't generally like their sisters having." Wide grey eyes looked at the golden lord for a few moments before the other piped up.

"You mean the way they like trying to eat each other?" Everyone in the room looked at the little boy in a combination of confusion and amusement. He looked annoyed at the adults' apparent stupidity and carried on. "You know they put their mouths against each other and stuff like Nana and Ada do. They think other people can't see them, but I can. When Ada and Nana do it, they tend to hand us over to the nurse and go to their room and be noisy." By this point both couples being talked about had gone a charming shade of red, while Glorfindel collapsed laughing. "It's not funny!" cried the boy, crossed his arms and glared at the Elf-lord. Glorfindel shook his head.

"Oh but it is, penneth, your parents are very embarrassed, they thought you didn't know. By the way, they aren't eating each other, it's called 'kissing' and people who are in love find doing it so very enjoyable. When people kiss each other on anything other than the cheek, it generally means they are in love, like Ivochyl and Erestor." The child nodded and the next person to talk was his brother. As they spoke, Mithiliel absently wondered which was which as the boys looked very much alike.

"Why do Nana and Ada go to their room after they have been kissing?" Glorfindel bit his lip and looked up to the sky. The boys were a little young for this conversation.

"Because kissing makes them want to do something only adults can do and should only do in private."

"Why do they want to do that?" twin number 2 asked.

"Because they find it fun, though sometimes they also want to produce children as well." The twins went blessedly silent for a meagre few seconds. They then looked up at the golden lord and both began speaking at the same time.

"Does that mean we're going to get a little sister to be pro-tect-ive over?" They apparently had trouble with that long word.

"Because Ada and Nana went off into their rooms last night and were noisy again."

"I want a little sister to be protective over! I'm going to grow into a big strong Elf-warrior and no ellyn is going to love my sister for fear of me!" announced twin 2. Mithiliel found it rather hard not to laugh at that last statement. Covertly she looked to her sister and cousin, who were both very red, though they seemed pleased that Glorfindel had to try answering the awkward questions.

"They probably won't have another child until you two reach your majorities in 40 years or so, just to make sure that you two are big enough to protect her right from the start." Mithiliel almost admired the Balrog-slayer for that answer. At the statement both twins puffed up their chests proudly, then turned to Mithiliel with another round of questions.

"Will you be having a child, aunty Mith-el?" Mithiliel resisted the temptation to groan at the change of focus.

"Probably when you are old enough to travel, Uncle Thranduil wants children, but I want to wait until I can have your Naneth in Greenwood when I give birth so that means waiting until your parents think you old enough to travel with her."

Shortly after that the twins were mercifully put to bed by their nurse. Once the two small ones were gone, they got back to the matter they had been waiting to hear about. At first no-one spoke.

"Well?" asked Elrond eventually.

"I gave permission for Erestor to court my sister, as well as a warning." Thranduil answered shortly, clearly not entirely sure about the decision. At the shocked raised eyebrows, he elaborated. "The whole point of making that law that shocked the socks off everyone was so that Ivochyl could find an ellon of her own choice to marry. I don't like her choice very much, but..." He sighed deeply, clearly still wondering about what exactly he was doing.

XXX

That night, while they lay in bed before they went to sleep, Thranduil rolled to look at his wife.

"You really suspected about Erestor and Ivochyl since the time we got engaged?" She smiled and stroked his cheek tenderly, noting that Thranduil still seemed a bit disturbed by the new development.

"Sort of. I noticed that there was some attraction there then, but it wasn't until I was in Imladris for Celebrian's wedding that I really noticed them. I think Eruvion had a good guess though, there were several occasions where we couldn't look at each other lest we burst out laughing." Thranduil smiled gently at her and put his hand on her stomach.

"It will only be 10, 15 years until the twins are big enough to travel, and you know I long to see your waistline expand..." he trailed off with a roguish grin. Mithiliel laughed and rolled on top of her husband, kissing him gently.

XXX

Not far down the corridor were two small shadows, creeping off to mischief. Once they were safely away from the bedrooms, one whispered to the other:

"Aunty Mith-el and Uncle Th-wand-il were being noisy as well. Does that mean we will have a cousin sooner than expected, Ro?"

"Maybe; I hope it's a boy, then we can play swords with him." The first nodded sagely before the pair carried on with what they were doing.

Good enough?

'Scuse me while i go off and celebrate the fact my mother has just given me a very nice fuscia evening dress which i am going to wear today (with silly socks, as per family tradition) and i am very happy as that dealt with my minor little wardrobe crisis for today.


	15. Chapter 15

Grey Dawn 15

The next morning, both Twins seemed more than slightly excited and seemed to have suddenly developed a huge interest in the battle at the end of the Third Age or – to use the Twins' name for it – 'that big fight where Ada and Glorfy and everyone went and told the big stroppy guy with the Ring to stop being a bully'. There was a certain amount of charm to their infantile manner of describing things and the two could unfailingly take out the seriousness of any conversation.

Eventually, most to shut the boys up, they all decided to go visit the painting of Isildur using the broken blade to cut the Ring from Sauron's hand in the room where the shards of Narsil were kept. When they entered though, they all stopped in shock.

Someone – someone short by the looks of it – had graffitied the painting and pulled the shards from their table, by the looks of it accidently pulled off by someone pulling the fabric upon which they rested. Out of curiosity, Mithiliel went over to the painting to see what had actually been painted upon it. As she examined the painting, she got the strong impression that the graffiti was done by a child, or quite possibly two of them. The drawings were done in children's chalks and looked remarkably similar to the ones she and Celebrian had done (on chalk boards, rather than other's artwork) as small children. None of the pictures went above the height of the Twins, except at one end where there was a tipped up chair. Both twins were grinning proudly as the adults examined the room.

"Do you like it, Aunty Mith-el?" asked one. As Elrond's face turned angry, both boys' eyes widened as they realised that they had done something wrong. The one who had not said anything stepped away from his brother and pointed.

"He did it, Ada! I was getting the chair so I could put Is-eel-dur's sword back." He instantly received an elbow in the stomach from his brother, who was glaring. Mithiliel looked up at her cousin and sister with a raised eyebrow.

"They're yours" She simply smiled at them and took her husband, leaving Elrond and Celebrian to deal with their offspring.

XXX

That evening they sat in the private sitting room, talking over the Twins' apparent action. Elrond looked singularly stressed and held a large glass of Dorwinion in his hand.

"They thought the picture needed cheering up, so they tried to use their chalks to make the scene more like Imladris. Then Elrohir wanted to look at the shards and tried to get to them by climbing up and accidently pulled the cloth down with the shards instead so he got a chair to try put them back which Elladan stole to put some decorations higher up and knocked it over getting down to move it and couldn't put it back up again as he was too small." Everyone was smiling appreciatively at the Twins' actions. None of them would have been anything other than sternly disapproving in front of the Twins but now, in private, they could laugh at the young children's antics. Mithiliel smiled appreciatively.

"It is listening to anecdotes like that that make me glad I have yet to have children and hope that my children never feel like prettifying any of the walls of our home. Maybe Thranduil and I should keep our children away from yours until they are too old for that." Thranduil smiled appreciatively at that and Mithiliel was sure he was thinking that he was glad that the Greenwood and Imladris were too far away for more than the occasional visit.

XXX

Not long after that, they returned to the Greenwood. Over the next decade or so, there were many letters of Celebrian's that Thranduil never heard of, partly because the letters detailed Ivochyl and Erestor's romance and Mithiliel didn't think it was such an idea to let her husband see those, he tended to do the whole protective-brother thing very well.

Eventually, about 13 years after that visit, Celebrian and Elrond announced that they would be coming to visit with the little horrors they called their children. Shortly after, Mithiliel discovered she was pregnant. Well, she supposed she _had_ said that she would have children and provide Thranduil with his first (preferably male, she suspected) child as soon as her nephews were old enough to travel. Since they obviously were, he had clearly decided the time had come.

Erestor and Ivochyl would be visiting as well and Mithiliel strongly suspected that they would be asking for a betrothal from Thranduil. She would have to talk at her husband for a while until he gave in, possibly mentioning getting her pregnant without doing her the courtesy of asking her first. She could just imagine the explosion caused by Erestor or his representative asking for Thranduil's sister's hand-in-marriage. The meal immediately after that meeting would be exceptionally tense.

XXX

As soon as the scout came in and warned them that the arrival of the Lord and Lady of Imladris would be soon, Mithiliel was up and bouncing towards the entrance of the palace with an amused Thranduil in her wake. Shortly before they reached the doorway, they also picked up Eruvion, who was also smiling. When he looked at Mithiliel she immediately knew what he was thinking and had to suppress a mischievous giggle. The ancient Lord had obviously also got the implications of Ivochyl and Erestor coming together. As they were waiting, Eruvion leaned over to her and whispered in Mithiliel's ear.

"She writes to me when she wants paternal advice, but would rather not arouse his protectiveness." There was no need to ask who Eruvion was referring to. It was pretty obvious. So Ivochyl had been doing some secret correspondence too. Well, that added interest to the equation. Mithiliel smiled again and silently wondered who would be acting as Erestor's relative, she didn't know of him having any relatives, he'd never mentioned any.

Not long after that, the Imladris party came round the bend in the path and Mithiliel waved at her sister, very noticeable due to her pale hair amongst the majority of dark-haired Elves. Celebrian grinned and waved back. Then the Twins saw what their mother was looking at and waved to their aunt enthusiastically. Though they were much larger than they had been (AN: around nine in human terms), they were still very much children and ones on their first outing from their home.

It did not take long for the front of the party to reach them and before any form of formal greetings could happen, the Twins bounced off their horses and wrapped their arms round their aunt, who hugged back. Elrond and Celebrian then dismounted, shaking their heads at the energy of their offspring.

"I swear those two are far too energetic considering the fact that they have just had a long journey on horses and never travelled before." Everyone laughed, they all knew how the Peredhil felt. The Twins did not let go of Mithiliel's waist throughout the greetings and each took possession of one of her hands as they walked through the palace. They looked at everything with wide eyes and seemed a little fearful of all the blondes. Both were used to a primarily brunette population with only their mother and Glorfindel being blonde. Some of the younger Elves, particularly the ellyth, smiled or waved at the boys but some of Thranduil's more elderly and conservative Lords looked rigidly disapproving at the presence of so many Noldor in the halls of the palace. She suspected her husband would be having a pointed conversation about proper behaviour with those Lords at some not far off future date.

Eventually, they reached the accommodation for the visitors and the Twins were immensely pleased to be housed in a suit with separate bedrooms, but a joined sitting room. They failed to notice their parents were housed immediately next door with Erestor on the other side and Glorfindel immediately opposite. Not that Mithiliel didn't trust them not to behave or anything.

XXX

That evening, they had a private meal, mostly because Mithiliel had designed it to be similar to the way Amroth had arranged in Lorien so that they could hopefully have a betrothal announcement the next night at the Welcome Ball. The look in Ivochyl's eye said she had caught on the real reason for postponing the Welcome Ball for a day. The older elleth looked unsure whether she was glad or nervous or what.

Though, even if there was no betrothal to announce, there would be something else to announce. Mithiliel and Thranduil had been holding off on announcing her pregnancy until after they had told her family. The entire country would be overjoyed.

As they were finishing desert, Glorfindel, who had been fidgeting a lot throughout the meal, spoke up.

"Thranduil, would you mind if I were to talk to you privately either this evening or tomorrow?" Mithiliel had never heard the great Balrog-Slayer sound so nervous. Her husband looked at the Golden Lord with creased brow and a slightly worried expression, clearly not having caught on to what Glorfindel wanted to ask. Absently, Mithiliel wondered why Erestor had chosen Glorfindel to ask, as she raised her eyes to the air in a gesture of exasperation at her beloved's slowness. To diffuse the steadily building tenseness, she spoke up,

"It is probably better you two talk tomorrow morning, especially as I have my own little announcement to make. We have been holding off telling the country generally because I wanted to tell my family first, though we have sent Ada and Naneth a message telling them since we can't them in person." She had captured everyone's attention and Thranduil's expression had smoothed into a slightly dazed, if very proud, expression. Mithiliel placed her hand gently over her husband's and smiled as Celebrian gestured for her to continue.

"I'm pregnant." No point beating about the bush, especially as the effect of not doing so was so spectacular. The almost universal jaw drop and the total silence was quite gratifying. Predictably, it was one of the Twins who broke the silence.

"Does that mean we get a cousin to play with?" Mithiliel just laughed and nodded at them. Both cheered and promptly ran round the table to hug her.


	16. Chapter 16

Grey Dawn 16

As they were curling up to go to sleep later on, Thranduil looked at his wife with a confused expression.

"What on Arda do you think Glorfindel wants to talk to me privately about? And why would, whatever it is, make him so nervous?" Mithiliel resisted the temptation to roll her eyes in exasperation at her husband's denseness.

"Erestor has obviously asked him to fill in as a relative for the purpose of asking you for your permission to marry Ivochyl." Thranduil sat up at record speed with a loud cry of 'What!' Mithiliel rolled her eyes and pushed her husband back down onto the bed and kissed him until he relaxed. "You are probably the only person who has yet to work out the two of them are hopelessly in love. Now, when Glorfindel asks, you will say yes, won't you?" She spoke as calmingly as she could. Thranduil's response, however, was petulant.

"Why?" Actually rolling her eyes this time, she kissed her husband again a couple of times.

"Because the whole point of making your sister single again was so she could marry the ellon she loves; she has found him now and he is asking for her. I know you are protective of your sister and don't really like Erestor, but he is a lovely Elf that will love her and everything else. You know full well that your sister will be well looked after so there is no reason for you to decline the request and many to accept." Thranduil looked at his dark wife and sighed. He had caught the unsaid comments as well. He realised that his life would probably become a living hell if he said 'no' and would remain so until he said 'yes'. His wife could be very unpleasant when he really annoyed her.

XXX

The next morning, immediately after breakfast, Thranduil took the still highly nervous Golden Lord off to his office, leaving everyone else sitting nervously round the table. Well, everyone bar the Twins, who eventually noticed that something was wrong.

"Is Uncle Glorfindel having a talk with Uncle Thranduil like the one he had when we were little?" Celebrian nodded. "Why is he talking with Glorfindel, then? It's Erestor who's in love with Aunty Ivochyl, not Glorfindel." Mithiliel answered this time.

"Glorfindel is asking Thranduil for his permission for Erestor to marry Ivochyl. Traditionally, an ellon has his closest relative ask the father, or in this case brother, for permission, but since Erestor doesn't have a relative around to do the asking, Erestor has asked Glorfindel to fill in for him." Looks of understanding passed across both boys' faces.

"Does that mean Aunty Ivochyl and Uncle Erestor will be getting married soon, then?"

"Yes; soonish. They have to wait at least a year before they marry because of tradition and they have to spend that year away from each other just to make sure they keep to it." Ivochyl looked up at Mithiliel.

"How do you know Thranduil's going to give permission? He doesn't really like Erestor and he is very protective." Mithiliel laughed.

"He will, if he knows what's good for him. I explained to him exactly what he was going to do last night; that's why I decided it would be a good idea for them to have the talk this morning, so I had time to make sure Thranduil would do it right." Celebrian was grinning, as was her husband, and Erestor simply had an eyebrow raised. The latter did seem just a little bit less white though.

XXX

"Why on Arda did I agree to this?" Thranduil muttered as he hugged his wife from behind. Earlier that day, Glorfindel had confirmed what Mithiliel had previously stated and already, her husband was regretting giving his permission.

"Because you love your sister and want her to be happy, not to mention the fact I would have given you hell if you had said no." Thranduil laughed dryly at the last comment.

"I remember Galadriel making it clear she would have done the same thing if Celeborn refused my suit as well." Mithiliel turned round in her husband's arms and kissed him. That went on for a little while before they managed to pull themselves away from each other to finish preparations for the ball.

Once they had finished, they met up with the rest of the party, which included Ivochyl and Erestor smiling dreamily with new silver rings on their fingers as well as the Twins, who Celebrian had cheerfully announced earlier as having been so thoroughly traumatised by her threats that they would probably be able to behave until they were sent to bed. Neither looked too traumatised, though, they looked rather exited.

The group entered the large hall in procession. Once they were all neatly spread out on dais at the front of the hall, Thranduil looked around and began his speech. It was not very long and only welcomed the Imladris party to his realm and then announced Ivochyl's engagement. They had decided to hold off on the announcement of Mithiliel's pregnancy for a little while so as not to take the shine off Ivochyl's own betrothal. What was also not said, but was very implicit in tone, was that if anyone should say even a word against either the Imladris party or his sister's engagement then Thranduil would personally make the person who had said anything regret it deeply.

Needless to say that everyone was very polite and, sometimes exaggeratedly, happy for the newly betrothed couple.

XXX

They decided to wait about a week before they announced that Mithiliel was pregnant. The joy at that announcement was generally more natural than it had been for the announcement of Ivochyl's engagement. There was, however, a slight miffedness that Mithiliel was getting towards five months into her pregnancy before she had announced it outside the family. Not that that bothered Mithiliel all that much.

Another couple of weeks later, Elrond returned to Imladris, vowing to return for the end of Mithiliel's pregnancy to return the favour of keeping Thranduil out of the way. Everyone was sad to see him go, but knew that he would be back relatively soon. Celebrian and the Twins were staying, as was Ivochyl, but Erestor had been taken so they could start their year's separation before they were to be married. The following year or so would be top filled with movement between the realms of high ranking states-people.

It was not long before they received back a package of letters from Lorien, as well. Amroth had sent one, as had each of their parents, several friends and, surprisingly, Nimrodel. The last one was for Ivochyl, which wasn't such a surprise as Mithiliel remembered that the two had known each other from somewhere or other.

The letters from her parents stated when they were coming for the birth as well as the expected congratulations. Both Thranduil's and Eruvion's reactions to the news that Galadriel and Celeborn would be coming to the Greenwood were amusing. Though they now counted as Thranduil's in-laws, relations were still coolly civil to each other on the whole.

Thranduil sat at his desk with the letter detailing their arrival to look after their daughter through the difficult birthing process, face like stone as he clearly tried to contain himself from having any reaction that might offend his wife. Eventually he spoke,

"What on Arda are my Lords going to say?" he asked in a strangled voice. Eruvion, who up till this point had been trying to hold in laughter gave up and collapsed in highly unlordly laughter. He apparently thought the whole thing was highly amusing. The ancient Lord had a very strange sense of humour sometimes.

XXX

Ivochyl turned out to have a similar sense of humour. Her response to the news was to punch the air and whoop. Apparently, the amusement value of Galadriel and Celeborn in Greenwood the Great was enough to make the most noble and regal of people start behaving like children.

Mithiliel had to admit that her family, all of it, in the Greenwood would be amusing.

Happy New Year! hope you all had a good one. :D


	17. Chapter 17

Grey Dawn 17

It was around a month or so before Mithiliel was due to give birth that Galadriel and Celeborn arrived, with Elrond in tow, having apparently met him on the way. Both Mithiliel and Celebrian were suspicious of that, the groups would have had to have been very close to the palace to meet, considering the difference in directions they would have had to taken.

Either way, Mithiliel was very glad to have particularly her mother there. Though she was not nearly as large as Celebrian had been when she was this far into her pregnancy, Mithiliel did still resemble a rising moon and was very nervous about the birth. Thankfully, Thranduil was not nearly so inclined to coddle her as Elrond had been for Celebrian; though, he still fussed. Celeborn and Elrond quietly took him aside to keep him occupied.

There was the slight distraction of the behaviour of the assorted Lords and Ladies of the court to the arrival of their Queen's parents. Though they were not fond of the Lord and Lady, they were also slightly scared of them, something both her parents found amusing. What amused Celebrian, Ivochyl, Eruvion, Thranduil and Mithiliel most was the way her parents took great advantage of this and deliberately did things that would make the Lords and Ladies jump or squeal. The glowing was particularly good for scaring assorted nobles. Neither Mithiliel nor Celebrian had realised how evil their parents' sense of humour could be at times. It did get Thranduil to like them more, though.

XXX

There were some points in time at which Mithiliel really hated her husband. As a strong contraction came on and she screamed with the pain, she thought that this moment was definitely one of them. She never wanted to have another child, not if she had to go through this every time!

It had been hours, or at least felt like it, and the damn child was still coming! She barely had time to get her breath from one painful contraction before the next came along. Her mother's powers were being engaged to their full effect to help things along, though if this was what it was like to give birth with Nenya helping with the pain, then there was no way she was having another child without her mother around at the birth.

Eventually, though, the child did come. As they were cleaning the child up, Celebrian helped brush her messy hair and get at least slightly presentable before her probably highly impatient husband was let in to see the child.

When Thranduil entered, Mithiliel looked at her husband with a weary smile; if she had been slightly less exhausted, she would have laughed, for he looked worse than he had when waiting to find out if Celeborn had given permission for her hand-in-marriage. Looking unsure of what to do, he came and stood by the bed. He hugged her with a slightly dazed expression, then Galadriel came over with a serene expression and a brighter than normal glow round her. In her arms was a bundle that was presumably the baby.

"The Crown Prince of Greenwood the Great, your son, King Thranduil," she announced formally as she handed the boy to his father. He took the child carefully, as Galadriel showed him how to hold the infant, and sat heavily on the side of the bed beside his wife. Mithiliel leant over and moved the blankets round the child to see a small face with a shock of dark hair. Apparently, the baby took after his mother like that. Then the little baby opened his eyes to reveal his father's green eyes, regarding his parents. The little boy was perfect, she decided. Very red, but the perfect baby, and a wonderful combination of both parents.

Thranduil looked over at his wife with a highly content smile and kissed her gently before brushing the baby's face with his hand.

"Hail my son, Legolas, Crown Prince of Greenwood the Great," he said quietly.

XXX

The next week, the small infant was to be formally introduced to the realm as a whole and most of the country turned out for the informal ceremony that had been set up. All her family were there, as was Eruvion and the granddaughter he had mentioned on their first stay. It only occurred to Mithiliel then that she had never met any of the Lord's family and wondered what had happened to his wife and child or children.

Once the little ceremony was over, the group retired to a large sitting room, where one of the Twins took hold of their little cousin. Both twins had been totally enamoured with the boy and had greatly amused everyone by their first comment upon seeing their younger cousin.

"He's got our hair colour!" That had caused a laugh. But now, the two adorable little boys were first in the line for any round of pass-the-baby, not to mention filling in several other slots. It was really quite endearing (not to mention useful) the way the boys were so protective of their cousin.

XXX

It was a month or so before most of the parties left to return to their own realms, though Celebrian and the Twins remained behind for several months to help the new parents get accustomed to their new roles.

The help was greatly appreciated and it meant that the royal pair actually got some sleep occasionally. Though the Twins helped with baby care, they also made some friends with the other elflings round the palace, who were mostly fascinated by the boys' dark hair, previously they had only seen their Queen with dark hair. Both Celebrian and Mithiliel were glad to see the friendships grow; it was a good sign for the realms.

XXX

Several months later, though, they had something new to sort out: Ivochyl had been engaged to Erestor for over a year and the impatient couple wanted to be married. In light of that, they got arranging.

Because Ivochyl was a Princess of Greenwood, the actual marriage would happen there, though the couple would live in Imladris. Even though they had plenty of time to get used to it, many in the Greenwood were still unused to the notion of their Princess remarrying and it offended many of the more conservative Elves' sensibilities. Neither the couple not their families cared however, as long as those Elves did nothing to ruin the new couple's happiness.

XXX

Almost exactly six months to the day after Legolas was born, Elrond's party (complete with expectant bridegroom) arrived. All of the royal family waited at the palace gates, as did Celebrian and the boys, who were once again holding the infant Legolas.

If Mithiliel had thought the way Thranduil had been when she came to Greenwood for the first time had been sweet, then the way the two Elves were was extremely cute. Ivochyl was standing on the tips of her toes while looking round, trying to spot her beloved, though that was not a hard task. The aforementioned Elf was sitting particularly straight on his horse, eyes fixed on the party at the front of the palace.

It seemed that the party was going deliberately slowly to torture the pair, something Ivochyl clearly thought from the quiet little monologue she had going under her breath. Mithiliel wasn't entire sure that the blonde Princess realised that she was muttering her thoughts out loud. Mithiliel didn't comment, but saved the information for teasing purposes later.

Eventually, though, the party did reach the welcoming group at which point Elrond, Glorfindel and Thranduil proceeded to make some very long introductions, preventing the waiting couple from greeting each other. After a little while of the games, Mithiliel realised it was a male method of 'bonding', this irritating teasing. Eventually, she took pity on her sister-in-law and elbowed her husband in the gut, which resulted in an 'oof' and then an innocent look. As the three mischievous ellyn gave in, Ivochyl threw Mithiliel a grateful look and went to greet her nervous betrothed.

The reunion was passionate and gentle at the same time, as well as tender and almost unsure. It was surprisingly beautiful to watch. As the two, so clearly in love, greeted each other, she felt Thranduil's hold of her waist tighten. Being in the pair's presence had a way of making everyone else present feel inadequate with the purity of it all.

Eventually, Thranduil pulled her against his chest and kissed her neck. He then leaned down and whispered in Mithiliel's ear,

"You were right, my love, there is no one else for my sister. I have never seen such pure love before. I might not like her choice, but..." He trailed off, she knew what he meant. There was no doubt that Erestor and Ivochyl's love was worthy of the proverbs. Mithiliel smiled gently and leaned back against her husband. Right at this moment, everything in the world was perfect. Any moment either way might not have been, but this one was.


	18. Chapter 18

Grey Dawn 18

Many in the Greenwood were still unsure about the marriage between their Princess and Erestor, but they had all learnt to keep their opinions to themselves. Some of those looks returned with the return of the dark-haired Lord for the wedding. Erestor and Ivochyl were too engrossed in each other to notice, however.

It was around a week after the arrival of Elrond's party that the wedding was arranged for and most of that time the couple tried to spend together, and all their friends tried to prevent them from being together, mostly out of amusement at how taken they were with each other. Not that any of the group like irritating their family members at all.

Eventually the big, and controversial, day arrived and Mithiliel and Celebrían helped Ivochyl prepare for the wedding. The Princess was reflective throughout the process and eventually they asked her tentatively, knowing her behaviour probably had something to do with her previous wedding day.

"It's just that when I last sat in this position I was with _his_ mother assisting me and I had barely met him at all and I knew I was just being given to him for alliance and to get rid of me and..." She trailed off with a sigh.

Mith hugged her sister-in-law tightly and sat down beside her. There was not anything either elleth could say, neither could imagine doing such a thing or suffering such a thing as Ivochyl had.

XXX

By mid-afternoon, when they were due to start the ceremony, Ivochyl had relaxed into a serene calm that neither Mithiliel nor Celebrían understood. Mithiliel suspected though that it probably had something to do with the fact that, this time, she knew she was doing what was the right choice. In a way she was putting her horrible past behind her and moving on to happiness.

Leading the serene Princess out to the same field which Mithiliel and Thranduil had married in and, despite the disapproval, there was an impressive turnout for the wedding. Mithiliel couldn't help notice that there was a certain bias in favour of women in the turnout. Mithiliel suspected that the female part of the population was less sanctimonious than the male on the subject of re-marriage.

Whatever the reason for the skewing in the turnout, Ivochyl and Erestor didn't care and went on as if no-else, other than each other, were there. Actually, they probably were oblivious to the rest of the world. Mithiliel sure hadn't been paying much attention when she had been in the same place.

The two previous times Mithiliel had been at a wedding (including her own) she had not been paying this kind of attention to the couple being married – well unless being totally focussed on her spouse counted.

It was the oddest thing she had really noticed before. She had never seen the hard, cynical Princess so open and happy and there was something touching about the strange freeness that her sister-in-law had acquired for the sole duration of the wedding. Erestor also seemed so much freer. It was odd. Once again, Thranduil seemed to share her feelings and she felt his arms tighten round her waist as they went on to the feast afterwards.

As the sun was setting, Mithiliel noticed the neither Ivochyl nor Erestor were anywhere to be seen and she elbowed her husband (who was fussing their infant son) and whispered that to him. He looked around a bit then realised that the pair was gone.

"I don't even want to think about it, Meleth nin, she is my sister and I love her dearly, but that is one thing I really don't want to think about her doing. Do you mind taking Legolas? I think he wants his mother." He handed the dark-haired babe to his mother and Legolas did indeed seem very glad to be in Mithiliel's arms and promptly pulled his mother's hair. Hard.

Some things never changed.

XXX

As expected, the pair were not seen for a week or so and once they had come out, they were truly oblivious to each other. They also seemed impervious to the copious teasing going on, probably because they were too engrossed in each other to notice.

About a week after their emergence, they left off to go back to Imladris with the returning party for the wedding, taking Celebrían and the Twins with them. The Twins were highly mournful to be separated from their little cousin, whom they were highly fond of. Little Legolas seemed equally upset to be separated from them as well. Celebrían and the Twins had been away from home for too long already.

Everything seemed oddly peaceful and almost empty after they had all gone.

XXX

The next 25 years or so saw another, rather less extended, visit from Imladris and a couple from Galadriel and Celeborn, who fussed the dark-haired Prince outrageously. Actually, the first meeting of the Prince and his grandparents was quite funny.

Once the little boy had been coaxed out from behind his mother's skirts, he looked up at them in confusion.

"Why have they got pale hair if they're your parents, Nana?" All four adults tried not smile or _anything_ that might offend the child.

"Shall we go inside so I can explain, penneth. It's a bit of a long story why." It had taken a while to explain, and they found out that the child was highly conscious of the difference in his colouring.

XXX

Eventually, though, Legolas was old enough to travel. A week into the journey, and Legolas was quieter and more placid then he had been since he had learnt to walk. It was a pleasant change. It would probably last right until the morning after he arrived.

By the time they had reached Imladris, Legolas was flat out exhausted and very fed up of the journey. This had the unexpected result of him not being very awake when they crested the rise over which they would get their first view of the hidden valley. That first view woke the little Prince up alright.

"Wow! Nana, is that Imladris? It's pretty!" The little boy seemed very awed by the place, which was so totally different from his home. Once they had managed to stop him gawping at the view, they rode on down, where they were met by Elrond, Celebrían, the Twins, Glorfindel, Erestor and Ivochyl.

The Twins had recently reached their Majorities and were trying to appear mature – unsuccessfully. That didn't stop them hugging everyone, though Legolas most, enthusiastically. Ivochyl also fussed over the little boy ridiculously, probably because she was related to the boy. Legolas seemed a bit nervous, however. It was probably because he's only met any of them a few times that he was nervous, Mithiliel concluded. The little boy soon got over it, though.

For the rest of the afternoon, the Twins took up their old role of 'Legolas sitting' and both Mithiliel and Thranduil began to worry over the elder ellyn corrupting their son who, so far, seemed a sweet-natured child. Legolas, nearly back to his old energy, revelled in the presence of his cousins however, and both parent's tendency towards mischief and suchlike came out in full force. There was not an adult there who was not closing their eyes in despair at the potential for horror inherent in the trio.

XXX

That night, as predicted, Legolas crashed to bed in exhaustion quite early. That left the adults (plus the Twins, who were _technically_ adults now) free to talk without children around.

"He's grown so much, Mithiliel! He does look very much like you." Celebrían gushed. Eruvion smiled at her over his glass.

"He looks much like how his great grandfather did at the same age. I suspect there is also much resemblance to his grandfather there, though I could not honestly comment on that. Actually, ignoring colouring, there is much of his father in him." Everyone nodded and agreed, though the Twins got a slightly confused look on their faces. They were clearly not entirely used to just _how_ old Eruvion actually was.

"His personality is much like his father's, though his nature is sweeter. I think he was nervous meeting you again, he cannot remember you very well from the last couple of times you visited," Mithiliel answered. Thranduil then grinned roguishly, with more than a hint of a proud father.

"He is an excellent archer, especially for his age, however. I am already beginning to teach him the usage of the long knives, something he wouldn't normally be starting for a while. I think I will have to make special arrangements for his education, he is proving rather excellent. The best son any Elf could want." That was not a proud father speaking, really. Several Elves were concealing amused smiles at the obvious pride, and slightly more subtle boosting, in the King's tone.

The group passed the evening in companionable conversation, Elrond embarrassing his offspring when he decided to have his own moment of paternal pride over his sons; eventually, though, the conversation turned from the already around offspring to children to come. Both Ivochyl and Erestor went red when it was enquired about how long it would take for them to produce children.

"We are not planning any, we haven't really thought about it. We are simply happy being together," Ivochyl answered with an embarrassed expression.

"I don't mind what children we get, I would like some daughters, however."

Thranduil and Eruvion grinned at the dark-haired Elf.

"Your father-in-law would not like that. He doesn't have a high regard for female children I've noticed. I don't think Thranduil would mind, however, and I think we could do with some girls in the royal nursery, we need something to brighten things up." Thranduil and Mithiliel smiled at each other, they both liked the thought of daughters as well.

XXX

That night, Mithiliel and Thrandul were lying in their bed quietly, thinking before they went to sleep. Eventually, Thranduil rolled over to look at his wife.

"Meleth, do you think you could cope with two children at one?"

"Why?" Mith arched her eyebrow at her husband. She suspected she knew the answer, however.

"Because, after what Eruvion said, I thought about it and I realised that I really would like a daughter, so..." He trailed off, his eyes finishing the question.

"Shall we go be noisy, then?" she asked, remembering the young Twins' term from so long ago.

Thranduil laughed and rolled on top of his wife, who giggled.


	19. Chapter 19

Grey Dawn 19

Over the next two centuries or so, several children were born. Mithiliel's asked for daughters were the first. Actually, in a way, the girls were a bit of a surprise. They didn't actually arrive until around the turn of the century and then two of them arrived at once; Mithiliel was sure there was some joke to be made about that.

Once Thranduil, Mithiliel and the now adolescent Legolas had got over the surprise, they regarded her pregnancy with wonder. Well, right up to the point that Eruvion pointed out that twins did seem to run in the family. Mithiliel's own father was a twin, her cousins were and the surviving one also had twin sons so it wasn't such a surprise that she also was baring twins. To counter that, Thranduil pointed out that never before had the twins been girls, a point Eruvion had to concede.

The little girls were both dark-haired (much to Thranduil's consternation, he had been hoping for a blonde child, though quietly – he didn't want to offend his wife or son), though one could see many hints of Ivochyl in their features. They also had their father's green eyes.

The marginally older twin was called Tinnuchíl {Sin. dusk heir} and the younger Ivrengelair {Sin. Crystalline brilliance} and both were happy little babies, though Mithiliel had to wonder about her husband's grasp of baby names – green leaf, dusk heir and crystalline brilliance? She would never understand males. At least the names sounded nice.

The birth of her children of course started much ribbing of Ivochyl about getting some children of her own. By this point, both she and Erestor had learnt how not to blush at the not particularly subtle digs and instead returned glares.

XXX

When the younger Twins hit their mid-adolescence, Celebrían announced her pregnancy and a few months later, so did Ivochyl. It was soon discovered that both children were going to be girls and thankfully, neither pregnancy would produce twins.

At that announcement, Mithiliel and all her children packed up to go to Imladris to visit. Legolas, now grown and very sure of his maturity (even if he wasn't even a century old yet), decided to go to protect his little innocent sisters from all the Elves of Imladris which would fall for the beautiful Princesses of the Greenwood. He had definitely got both his father's and his cousins' brotherly protectiveness, though he had a point as both girls were startlingly beautiful. Legolas also want to visit the Twins.

As it was, it turned out that Mithiliel and the girls, as well as Legolas had their work cut out stopping Elrond and Erestor driving their respective wives up the wall. Though Elrond had gone through it before, he was no better than the last time he had and Erestor was actually marginally better, probably because he wasn't a healer. Glorfindel would also help out – when he wasn't too busy laughing at the fathers-to-be. Elladan and Elrohir seemed rather shell-shocked at the notion of getting a sister however.

XXX

It was the winter of 241 in which the new baby arrived, and was duly named Arwen, a little dark-haired girl that everyone could see would grow up to be as stunning as her mother. She had inherited the best of both parents' features.

As the spring came with the new year, so did Ivochyl's first child, who had brown hair somewhere between her mother and her father's colouring, as well as her mother's green eyes. It seemed that dark-hair overrode blonde and green eyes overrode grey or blue, though Mithiliel wasn't sure why. That might actually just be the case in their family but, either way, it was a strange thing to notice always seemed to happen.

Thranduil was thrilled at having a little niece to play with and as soon as the passes had cleared enough for him to come as well, he did. It was sort of sweet the way he played with little Gelluivil {Sin. joyful love} and she seemed to live up to her name even as a tiny infant.

XXX

Shortly after Gelluivil grew to an age where she could travel, Mithiliel got pregnant again. Much to Thranduil's delight, the child was another boy. It seemed a nice kind of symmetry for them to have two of each and, as Eruvion joked, it provided the male 'heir and a spare'. Ivochyl did not seem to find the obvious dig at her father all that funny though. Admittedly, Eruvion could have a very evil sense of humour sometimes, not to mention warped.

When the little boy came, Thranduil was as outrageously proud of him as he had been of the other three children. Unusually the little boy, named Anfaron {Sin. iron hunter}, had his father's blond hair and his mother's grey eyes.

Gelluivil was delighted not to be the youngest in the family anymore and also was delighted at having a baby to play with. Mithiliel's twins also agreed with the notion and the three girls, along with Arwen who was no less taken, played with the child at every opportunity. Mithiliel suspect that Anfaron would be less inclined to play with his sisters or cousins when he got older, but the girls could savour it while he was very small.

XXX

About thirty years after that, Ivochyl had another daughter, who had incredibly pale hair and her father's grey Noldorin eyes. That one was a particularly charming little baby whose laughter warmed the hearts of everyone near her and her parents named her Ithilverilin {moon nightingale}. Once again Thranduil fell in love with his new niece and fussed her as much as the elder. Particularly the girls enjoyed this new addition to the family and they spent much time making things to dress her up in. Anfaron just seemed baffled by it all, though he happily took turns in looking after his new cousin – under the watchful eye of his older brother.

XXX

The last of the brood was born around 365, about a decade after Ithilverilin came of age and the new arrival was also Ivochyl's daughter. This one was another dark-haired, green-eyed baby, who caught the heart of every person she looked at and she was named Miluiwen {loving maiden}.

All the children, all 10 of them, were absolutely enchanting and there wasn't a person who didn't love them. Amusingly enough, Ivochyl's daughters – the only girls not to have protective brothers – were equally served by their cousins and Elladan and Elrohir, who considered the girls their cousins through their mutual cousins – as if Erestor wasn't protective enough in his own right. Although, all four boys pointed out that no ellyn could protect three such beautiful girls at the same time, so they were _obliged_ to help out their kinsman. Everyone but the girls in question (well the older two, Miluiwen was a little young at the time the conversation took place) laughed. The girls just rolled their eyes.

Galadriel and Celeborn fussed their grandchildren outrageously of course, and Ivochyl's children also got included because it would have just been cruel not to. Well, that and the fact that Celeborn also liked to have more girls to fuss. Mithiliel came to the conclusion that her father just adored young children, and particularly little girls. He always looked sweetly paternal around all six of the girls and lavished all of them with gifts. On one of his trips to the Greenwood, Mithiliel asked him about it.

"It part of being a grandparent, Penneth, you're supposed to lavish pretty things on the girls and take the boys out to teach them archery and knife-work. Parents are supposed to be the strict ones, who make sure the children come out alright and grandparents the soft ones, who spoil their grandchildren." He said it so earnestly that Mithiliel knew he was teasing her. She rolled her eyes and muttered something about Elves going senile in their old age, just like humans, and received a highly offended look for it. She just smiled at her father serenely and waltzed out the door.

XXX

**1050 of the second age**

Mithiliel sat, curled in her husband's arms, glad that her children were all safely visiting their grandparents. She hoped that Galadriel and Celeborn would be able to find a gentle way to break the news in the letter to her children.

Thranduil sighed and kissed her head softly.

"We need to change our ways, my lady-wife. As much as I hate it, we will have to find some way to protect our people." He sighed again, heavily. Mithiliel kissed him again and remained silent for a few moments, thinking.

"That cave system under the palace, it could be fortified easily. Maybe we should..." She trailed off, looking up at her husband uncertainly. Defence and war were his speciality, not hers. He smiled sadly at his wife, clearly not liking having to have this discussion at all.

"Yes, that is a good idea. If we were to move the populace in there, and made it the home of the Elves of Greenwood the Great, they would be much safer. Greenwood the Great – Mirkwood as they call it now – is no so great anymore. The Shadow has fallen." Mithiliel kissed her husband, heart being wrung by the grief in his eyes at the damage being wrought by the Shadow, which had covered his beloved realm. He sighed gently into their kiss and finished the letter, sealed it and put it on a small pile to be sent the next day, and then followed his wife into the bedroom where she could give him at least temporary consolement.


	20. Chapter 20

Grey Dawn 20

Thranduil and Mithiliel stood watching the construction, or to be more precise: excavation, of the caves to make them an appropriate stronghold to keep the people of The Greenwood, or Mirkwood as Men were now calling the place, safe. Though in terms of defence it was a very good idea, it was also a serious operation to carry out. All the resources of the woodland realm went into it with full gusto, however, as everyone could see its advantage.

While they stood there, Mithiliel curled in her husband's strong arms, they heard the pounding of hooves and turned to see all four of their children gallop up, their guards close by. All four, now grown and very mature, looked very worried as they rode up.

"Nana! Ada!" Legolas called as he swung off his horse, which had barely stopped moving. The King and Queen were momentarily surrounded by their children, all hugging their parents enthusiastically. "What is this about the Shadow falling, Ada?" Legolas asked once greetings were done.

With a look at each other, the royal couple herded their offspring inside the palace for an explanation. All of them sat and listened soberly; as they had been away from their home quite a while, their parents explained about how a Shadow had fallen over the more northerly Woodland Realm and how evil creatures were beginning to infest the outer reaches of the forest. They then explained how the old Forest Road, set up by King Oropher to allow the Elves safe passage to his home at the centre of the Realm, was being re-enchanted to strengthen the protection of the Road from the dark things coming to infest the forest.

As they digested the information, Thranduil watched them sadly. He and Mithiliel had discussed something he was about to bring up that his children would like no more than he or his wife did. It was, however, necessary. He sighed and looked up before speaking.

"Your Naneth and I have discussed what to do with you four in the current situation." The heads of all four children shot up from their contemplations at that comment. "I have to keep Legolas and Anfaron close to me; you are my sons and also warriors. You two are needed to learn the ways of running a kingdom in war, should anything happen..." He was cut off by protests at the comment by his children, none of which could bare that thought, he held up his hand for silence. "I was second-in-line to the throne when the Battle of Dagorlad started, not including Ivochyl, for my father's machinations, by the end, I was King. Anything is possible in war, my children. What I was going to say, however, is that I am sending both Tinnuchíl and Ivrengelair away. If I could, I would keep you all out of harm's way, but I know from experience that I need my sons close. My daughters, however, are another matter." He broke off in a second storm of protests. The girls did not like the idea of being sent away. Mithiliel decided to try and intercede.

"I know that both of you can fight, I know that Aunt Ivochyl has made sure you were taught, but your Adar has a point. We are not getting rid of you, you will be allowed to return and we will visit you when we can, you are also allowed to choose where you spend your time. I know your Adar would prefer you to choose Imladris, for all sorts of reasons I am sure you're clever enough to work out."

"But Nana, why can't we stay here and help out? We are at least as good as Legolas and Anfaron." That was Tinnuchíl. They two boys seemed no happier with the situation than their sisters, but they kept their peace.

"Because you are girls, my dears, and you cannot command armies or go out on patrol. I know there are a few girls in the armies of the realms occasionally, that is their choice and their parents' choice as well. I don't think your Ada and I made this clear. It is not a request or a choice we are giving you, it is an order of the King. We are trying to be nice about it, but there is not a choice in actually doing it. You, Tinnuchíl and Ivrengelair, _will_ go to either Lorien or Imladris with your guards and you _will_ stay in those two realms for the majority of the time. It is not up for discussion." Both girls glared at their parents and flounced out the room.

"Well, that went well," Thranduil muttered. Mithiliel and to her surprise, Legolas, laughed wryly at that comment. The dark-haired Prince rose and hugged his parents.

"As much as I know they hate it, I do agree with you. I feel much safer with them safely tucked away from the Darkness. I feel a foreboding of what is to come. I almost feel as if I know that I will lose someone in the family to this Darkness. Not now, not for a long time, but it will come I know." He looked at his parents sadly. "I will try and get them to come round before you send them off. Shall I try and encourage them to choose Imladris? I know it is what Ada would prefer." He smiled at his parents sadly. The boy had grown up very fast.

"Thank you, Legolas, it would be greatly appreciated," Mithiliel said and rose, embracing her son once again.

XXX

A few months later, Mithiliel and Thranduil watched as their three youngest mounted up to leave. Anfaron would be escorting his sisters to Imladris and then returning after a short visit. Both girls were still angry with their parents and only spoke to them when it was necessary. Legolas had got included in the wall of silence when Anfaron let slip that he supported their parents. The blonde prince had been left stuck in the middle of the family argument.

As the girls left with frosty farewells to their parents, Eruvion stood behind the royal couple and their eldest son in silent support.

"Don't worry; the girls will come round eventually. They are still young; they cannot yet see that you are doing this because you love them. Ivochyl will disabuse them of the notion, she is sensible and will show them that they are being silly. It might take some time for their anger to fade in the face of reason, and it will hurt all of you terribly until it does, but it will happen." The ancient Lord spoke softly, but there was no doubt in his voice and that gave them all comfort. Whatever the girls thought, they were dearly loved and this argument hurt everyone deeply.

XXX

After the initial argument, Mithiliel had quietly consulted with Eruvion, her mother and Elrond about Legolas' premonition. He did after all share the blood of Luthien and Melian, so there was a fair chance of it being true foresight.

The response she received was a resounding 'yes', they were all sure that it probably was. There was no way of telling for certain, but there was apparently a feeling about it that wrung true. That response did little to settle Mithiliel's worries.

XXX

When Anfaron returned, he came bearing, if not good then at least not bad, news.

"They are beginning to come round to this. Ivochyl explained in rather blunter terms what was going on, then told them to stop being selfish, at least their parents cared about them, and gave them a quick retelling of how Gaerada treated her. I think they understand now and are just working it out in their heads. I think they will be sending their sincerest apologies fairly soon." Both King and Queen sighed with relief. Eruvion just smiled.

"I told you Ivochyl would sort it out," he said simply and turned to go back to the task of building the new stronghold in the caves.

XXX

Eventually, after several years, the new palace was built and with that came two new problems. Furnishing the place and assigning quarters to the entire Realm. At least, Anfaron noted wryly once, all the Elves in the realm were guaranteed work. It was true, there was an awful lot of work for the elves to do and several new administrative posts just to keep everyone happy with the new housing options.

Though the people had been ordered to move inside the cave palace, they were not expected to move immediately, which at least meant that only the public, guest and royal areas had to be outfitted by the royal coffers.

Considering the huge administrative task it was, getting the Realm into to caves proved surprisingly smooth. Of course, not the entire Realm was in the caves, many outlying villages refused to come into the safety of the caves as of yet, but if anyone from Mirkwood should so want to, it was always an option and there was much housing space left over in case of that.

The completion of the caves was marked with a rather more morbid event, however. The first elven civilian died to the Shadows that had spread across the Realm. A small number of soldiers had died and more had been injured, but this was the first time a civilian had also gone to Mandos. As with when the soldiers had died, the entire Realm fell into mourning for the fallen.

The loss of an Elf was a cause for great grief, so much potential and so much knowledge was lost with the end of each immortal life.

Shortly after that came a letter from their daughters, who had apologised contritely via missive a few months after their brother had returned to Mirkwood, asking to come home for a visit and to see their new home.

It was one of the harder requests to answer.


	21. Chapter 21

Grey Dawn 21

After a while, they came to the conclusion that they would allow the girls home for a short time, but with a larger guard that would be sent with the return message.

Not long after, a messenger rode back to forewarn them that not only were the younger Princesses of Mirkwood coming back, but so was Ivochyl and her entire family, the children of which had never visited their mother's homeland. With the group would also be a large contingent of Imladris guards. Thranduil seemed a little unsure whether to be pleased at seeing family members he had not seen in a long time and that the vastly increased size of the party vastly increasing safety level or to be worried that more of his family were literally riding into danger.

Any worry was proved unfounded as the huge party arrived at the gates of the new subterranean palace unharmed. All of the royal family, and the Imladris guards, examined the new palace with curious eyes, none of them having seen the new palace before and Ivochyl being the only one who had ever seen something like it.

With the party was another surprise in the form of a grey-clad, old, grey-bearded human, who was introduced as Mithrandir. Thranduil's face took on what Mithiliel like to call his 'politically polite' expression as he greeted the old man. When he greeted Mithiliel, he surprised them all.

"So you are the one who bares likeness to my sister." At that comment, Mithiliel frowned at the old man. "Melian, the mother of Luthien and Maia of Vana and Estë. You bare her likeness well, child. You are aware that even from the Undying Lands she watches her descendants." Mithiliel's eyes had been widening steadily as the old man spoke. No, not man - Maia or Istar. They had received news that five Maia in the guise of old men had been sent by the Valar and that they were the Istari. There had been little other information, though.

The girls, all five of them, were very quiet as they walked through the new fortress. Eventually, Tinnuchíl spoke up.

"Ada, what happened to our things? And what will happen to the old palace now?" She sounded very unsure of herself.

"We've moved each of your rooms downwards. For the moment, the old palace is still being looked after, but once the move is complete, we will begin to abandon it. Once we are sure everything is gone from up there, we will abandon it completely. Time and monsters will decay the place. We may repair it if it is in good enough condition after the War, but we have no plans as of yet. It is only still really inhabited and kept up now to hide, or at least partially conceal our total movement below ground. I don't advise going up there without at least one guard. I am not taking any risks with my children right now." Both of the Twins agreed quietly, they had evidently decided not to argue about anything protective their father said. Mithiliel was not sure about what exactly Ivochyl had said to them, but it seemed to be working.

XXX

About a week after arriving, Mithrandir excused himself again.

"My visit here is not totally social, Hir nin, Hiril nin. I will hopefully return soon, I am going to try and find the source of this Shadow that overlays your realm." Both the King and Queen gaped at the old man. He knew how dangerous it would be and was still going? Mithiliel wasn't going to say it, but she was not going to hold her breath for his return.

But return he did a good while later. He did not seem any the worse for wear despite where had had been to and had at least got information about the source of the Darkness, for all the good it would actually do. They could barely slow the advance of the monsters into their realm, let alone attack its centre. But when the time came, they knew where to aim for at least.

Their respect for the Istar went up though, anyone who could go to Dol Goldur – as it had been named – and come out alive to tell the tale was worthy of respect.

XXX

Over the several couple of centuries they saw the Shadow spread across Arda and vainly attempted to stem the flow of a tide of evil blanketing everywhere.

One of the most memorable things was the emergence of a new race, 'Hobbits' as they called themselves. The Elves referred to them as Pereniath. In around 1300, they settled in a town up north called Bree. They were an interesting and quirky addition to a world that was getting increasingly depressing.

XXX

Around 1409, one of the more major events in the War happened, though to the humans primarily. It was significant in the fact that the humans were assisted by forces from Lindon, Imladris and Lorien. The event that caused this co-operation between the two races as hadn't been seen since the end of the last Age was Angmar attacking the Dunedain of the North. That attack threatened both Imladris and Lindon, hence their help with the effort.

XXX

Just under 200 years later, one of the Dunedain Kings, Argeleb II of Arthedain, allowed the Pereniath to settle in a region called the Shire. The leaders of the people were called Marcho and Blanco, names that amused the Elves slightly. The names did sound funny.

More of the strange race migrated into the 'Shire', though the great plague that hit the mortals decimated the Pereniath, along with many humans.

XXX

By the time they hit the 1970's of the Third Age, the Darkness was falling even harder and there had been many skirmishes in the War, each a major battle to the humans that took part, less so to the Elves, though no less costly.

XXX

In 1975, one of the most major of these side wars in the general War happened; well, actually, it started in the winter of the previous year but mostly in this one: the Northern Kingdoms fell to the attack from the Witch King – the Lord of the Nazgul of Sauron. The Hobbits for the first time showed that they were not just cute curiosities in the way of things. They proved to be very good archers.

The most significant event though, was the Battle of Fornost in which Earnur of Gondor tried to confront the Witch King, who was actually chased off by Glorfindel allowing his true Valinorian form to show, something Mithiliel was sure would scare anyone. With the generally spreading Darkness, Mithiliel and Thranduil had called their daughters home again, since nowhere in the world was any more safe than any other.

XXX

In the year after the fall of the Northern Kingdoms, the heirlooms of Gondor went to join those already in the room which the Twins had so long ago vandalised. This time they didn't have to worry about children with chalks, at least.

XXX

At the turn of the next decade, something happened in the Dwarven mines of Moria. No-one knew exactly what, but Galadriel's letter talked of the overwhelmingly evil feeling every Elf in Lorien felt. Many of the Elves who resided in the Golden Wood fled from the evil that was emanating from the mines, including Nimrodel – King Amroth's lover.

The exodus of the Silvan Elves from Lorien prompted the biggest political change in the elven kingdom yet to happen. Amroth followed his beloved when she left. Thus followed a long sage that anyone could tell would become a legend.

The more important point however, was that Lorien was left without a ruler, for Amroth had no other relatives. The people selected to replace the King were those that had ruled beside him as his advisors. Those people would happen to be Galadriel and Celeborn, much to Mithiliel's and Celebrían's surprise. It was weird knowing that their parents actually formally ruled Lorien, though they – like Elrond – declined to take the title of King and Queen. Instead they became the Lord and Lady of Lorien.

That was an event significant enough to justify visits of both Celebrían and Mithiliel, along with their entire families, to the Golden Wood and it was a rare moment of lightness in the darkness, no matter how weird it was to be coming to Lorien as the daughters of the rulers.

The realm seemed oddly quiet and empty after the exodus of Elves, and both Mithiliel and Celebrían found many of their old friends gone as well.

The visit home was a peculiarly sobering and a poignant reminder of the effects of the War, even a place that they remembered full of life, fading away. It was depressing and Mithiliel began to understand why one would want to sail. She loved Arda, but it was too sad to remain as it faded under the evil of Sauron.


	22. Chapter 22

Grey Dawn 22

About fifty years into the new millennium, which had been past with much celebration despite or possibly in spite of the darkness around them, human politics underwent another major shakeup in form of the fall of the kings of Gondor. Glorfindel had predicted what would happen to King Earnur of Gondor at the battle of Fornost, not that it was hard to tell something of the like would happen. The man obviously hated the fact that he had not been able to meet the challenge and had to be defended by another, even if that other was Lord Glorfindel, The Balrog slayer.

Not long after that Mithrandir visited Mirkwood again, mostly as a stopping off point for further investigation of Dol Goldur. The news he brought back from his expedition was not good though. The Necromancer, the person who had inhabited Dol Goldur that they had assumed was one of the Nazgul, was actually Sauron himself. The good news was that with Mithrandir's visit Sauron had fed eastwards, who would hopefully give the woods some well needed respite.

Xxx

Due to the dangers of the shadow and the proximity of Dol Goldur to both woodland realms, it was hard to visit her parents and those visits were infrequent but Mithiliel and her offspring managed it every so often, between visits to Imladris to Celebrian, Ivochyl and their families. To compensate, the visits were slightly longer.

In around 2103, Mithiliel and her daughters made one of her visit to Imladris. Though it was a social visit, it was not the relaxed atmosphere it had been in times past, though it was period in which there was a lull in the war.

The journey to Imladris was not the relaxed trips of the beginning of the age but one where they travelled as long as they could, as fast as they could each day. When they reached Imladris they were all rather tired, but at least they were safe.

Celebrian met the girls enthusiastically, as did Ivochyl and her daughters. Elrond could not greet them at the gate as he was snowed under with work, as was Erestor. Mithiliel suspected that there would be the odd conversation – out of the way of their daughters – about how to get their husbands to relax and help them de-stress. It was not a conversation to be carried out in front of their unmarried children.

That night though, there was a welcoming feast for them and it was one of the few moments of levity they would have. No matter how bad things got, they would keep up their celebrations and parties, for the sake of appearances if nothing else. Mithiliel and all of the girls thoroughly enjoyed the preparations for the party. While they were preparing Mithiliel had other things to ask her sister.

"Celebrian, where are Arwen and the girls?" The girls being Ivochyl's daughters.

"They are in Lorien. Arwen is studying with Nana. She has shown a grasp of the same powers Elrond has but of course, getting her to learn from her father is a no hoper. Never get a child to learn from their parent, so we sent her to Lorien to study with Nana instead. The girls went with her to keep her company there. So many of the elves are gone from there now, we didn't want her to be alone there." Celebrian looked a bit embarrassed about that but Mithiliel understood.

"Maybe we can arrange for Tinnuchíl and Ivrengelair to go visit for a while." Celebrian smiled, pleased at the notion. They both felt sad at the way Lorien was no longer the home they had known. Well, nothing could stay the same but Mithiliel wished it didn't have to change so much for the worse.

XXX

Not long later, Mithiliel had arranged the visit of her daughters to Lorien. She herself would not be going, but travel straight home once they had crossed the mountains. They would remain in Imladris for a few more weeks though.

The worrying thing though, was a letter Legolas sent with his father's message agreeing with the plan for the girls.

_Nana,_

_I hope you are well, I sincerely do. Do you remember that premonition I had when we sent the twins away to Imladris when we were first building the underground palace? The feeling that this war would bring tragedy to our family? Well it came back when I was told of the plans. There is something is wrong, terribly wrong I know. I don't know what but..._

_But I thought you should know. Be careful, please all of you! I don't know what is going to happen but it is soon Nana, and it is because of this trip somehow, I am sure of it!_

_I love you Nana, be careful, it would be terrible if something were to happen to any of you._

_Farewell and be well, all of you._

_Legolas._

Mithiliel frowned. She had never come across he son so agitated, especially when he was writing.

XXX

In response to the letter, Elrond added an extra contingent to their escort home, feeling that it was better safe than sorry. The main danger, however, was that the party would be separating up and cutting the size of the warriors in each group. Even so, looking at what Mithiliel felt to be a huge number of warriors there, Mithiliel felt a little stupid. Other elves managed to go from place to place with many fewer warrior that that, it almost felt like overkill but none of the males particularly were willing to let her go with anything less.

Celebrian drew her sister into her arms and hugged her close.

"I am sorry this visit was so depressing, it was meant to be a form of respite, for both of us. Let's just hope Legolas's premonition comes to nothing. I don't know how anyone would live with it if anything were to happen to any of you." Mithiliel hugged back.

"I agree, just now I feel as if I just want to get home to Thranduil and be wrapped in his arms safely. I do promise that I will be careful." The two elleth kissed each other's cheeks before she broke away and mounted her horse.

The trip of the mountains was uneventful and that lulled them somewhat, the mountains having been the most dangerous part of the journey. It was not unknown for monsters to fester there in the shelter provided by the numerous hidden caves that littered the area. Once they were safely across, the party broke into two groups, the larger going with Tinnuchíl and Ivrengelair. After many telling to be careful, wanting to make sure that the twins were safe, Mithiliel and her group left off for Mirkwood.

XXX

Mithiliel galloped down the old road towards the centre of Mirkwood and her husband, a little more carelessly than she probably should have in light of the dangers. Alright, the old forest road itself was enchanted and safe but the moment one left it then the dark creatures, mostly spiders at the moment, would be on you and you were probably dead.

Suddenly there was a loud clicking sound and one of the larger spiders' attempted and aerial assaults on the party full of what it considered to be nice fresh meat. Mithiliel's horse, like many others startled. Unlike most of her guard though, she was not strong enough to keep the beast controlled and it ran off the path into the waiting ,woods and all its monsters. Mithiliel screamed and drew her sword in the hope it would protect her until she could get her horse back safely onto the road.

Soon she heard the sound of soldiers following her, trying to save their queen.

Just as something pounced and bit her shoulder another rider managed to catch her up and pull her onto his horse. The flash of dark hair told her it was her eldest son who must have been out on patrol or something.

The pain wasn't bad so Mithiliel assumed she had not been badly injured, though she felt sleepy. Knowing enough about healing to know better than to give in to sleep, she fought the lethargy, but it was a losing battle. Eventually, after what seemed like an age but couldn't have been that long, she felt the tingle as they rode into the protected area of the road. She felt herself being slipped off the horse with her son's own body and as she did, she gave into the lethargy, no longer able to fight the sleepiness.

Xxx

Legolas knelt on the ground, his little brother kneeling next to him as he held their mother, a healer trying to patch her wounds. She had fallen unconscious as he had lifted her off the horse. Eventually the healer looked up at the princes with a sober look in his eyes and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, she..."

Legolas did not hear the rest and his mind spiralled downwards. It could not be, his mother could not be. He touched his hand to her neck, trying to feel for a heart beat but even as he leant over her, he could not even feel her breath.

His Naneth, his queen, could not be, should not be dead.

As his mind descended into grief, one last rational thought surfaced.

How on Arda would he tell his father?


	23. Chapter 23

Grey Dawn 23

Thranduil pounded up to the little clearing on his large horse, white as a sheet and not believing what the runner had said. Knelt there, slightly to one side and by his own horse was his eldest son, cradling his mother in his arms. Thranduil could not see her face, it was buried in her son's shoulder but he could see her wealth of dark hair that had always so attracted him. Without a care for anyone around his he swung off his horse and moved over to his wife and child. As he knelt, Legolas looked up at his father with dead eyes and loosened his hold on his mother.

She rolled lifelessly from Legolas's arms to his father's and Thranduil saw two things. The large, bloody wound on her shoulder and the pale lifelessness in her face. Her eyes were mostly closed, like she had been going to sleep when she had died. Thranduil went utterly white. When the messenger had come, Mithiliel had been merely badly injured, she could not be, she could not be dead.

He held her soft body, still warm, to him and called for the healer. Surely the ellon could do something. The warrior shook his head as he tried to answer his distraught king's questions.

"It was too close to her heart my lord, if she had been purely elfin then maybe but..." He trailed off in the face of the pleading expression. "If it any consolation, the spider poison would have numbed any pain. She did not suffer at all." The ellon's voice broke and he was clearly trying to find some way to make it better but nothing could. Mithiliel was dead and Thranduil's world was collapsing round him. Without a word, the blond king swung up onto his horse with his wife and rode back to the palace.

XXX

Thranduil hardly spoke to anyone for days, moving through the world as if one of the wraiths of Sauron. The body, he could not bring himself to think of it as Mithiliel's body, had been put somewhere cool in the basements of the Palace, awaiting its burial. He was vaguely aware of his sons making arrangements for everything, covering the work Thranduil couldn't do at that time. How could they carry on? Didn't they hurt as much as he? Was one of the thoughts that made its way into the king's mind.

Thranduil was not sure how long it was before his daughters arrived, or Ivochyl, or anyone else. He was just aware of Tinnuchíl and Ivrengelair both running up and embracing him, tears in their eyes. He clung to his daughters, seeking solace but it was so hard. They looked so much like their mother but not. It hurt so much, then Ivochyl arrived with Celebrian and everyone else. That just reminded Thranduil of the first time Mithiliel had come to Mirkwood, Greenwood the Great as it had been. Mirkwood was a good name, there was no light left there for the King any more.

The funeral, just outside the walls, in the ruins of the old palace, was terrible and Thranduil barely paid attention as they interred his sunshine, his light, his anchor, in the grave set in that same room his father had made for his mother too look like the nature outside. The statue stood beside that of his mother, the two queens of Greenwood the great would watch over it from this ruined palace forever, in a building falling like the realm was fading.

XXX

Thranduil sat in his office, dead eyes but functioning again, as Ivochyl and several others talked at him.

"Look Thranduil, maybe it would be an idea if the twins came with me back to Imladris or something, maybe they would be able to get over their grief better somewhere other than here?" He looked up at his sister and spoke in a dead voice.

"No, none of my children will be leaving this land to travel all over, most least, there. They shall stay here, my daughters within the palace itself. I will not risk anyone else. The spiders will not be allowed the chance to touch my daughters." Ivochyl took on her stubborn expression and opened her mouth.

"But Thranduil, you are being stubborn, you can't shelter them forev..."

"NO! They remain here. That is my last word Ivochyl. You are a lady of Imladris, so you can stay there and I must let you leave but I am _not_ having my women folk travelling though this Valarforsaken forest anymore. This subject is closed." He glared at them and, in the face of the King's anger, they left.

XXX

"It is insanity! What does he hope to gain by closing off his lands, keeping them apart? Oropher tried that and what did that get him? Dead! I swear he wants to die and take everyone with him, every damn citizen of his own realm is going to moulder there!" Ivochyl paced up and down the chamber in agitation. It was the night before they would all leave to return to their own realms. After the conversation about taking the girls away, Thranduil had been nothing but civil to anyone of the other royal houses. Eventually Eruvion spoke up.

"Ivochyl, Lorien and Imladris simply remind him of his grief. One was her home, the other the first place he saw and met her and the home of both her sister and cousin. He is grieving, he will come round. At least he isn't fading, Legolas is too young to take the reins of Kinghood yet. Thranduil was too young when Oropher died. It will pass, I am sure, once he has worked his way through his grief." Ivochyl sighed and nodded and then turned back to the ancient.

"But what is he doesn't?"

XXX

Thranduil didn't.

Over the next century or so, he systematically cut off all but the most necessary of political links with the other realms. No more than the occasional messenger went from Mirkwood, though substantially more went to. Increasingly, Mirkwood turned inwards and reverted to the state it had been at, at the start of the age. Bar the warring status, for it had been a much safer thing for the land to be insular and separate at the start of the age.

Eventually, they gave up. Thranduil showed no signs of coming round short of something cataclysmic happening. It almost became a wry, unfunny joke amongst the royals of the other elfin realms that nothing short of the one ring being carried through the dark eves of his forest would make the king leave his palace of stone tunnels and the destruction of the ring for him to release his offspring from his side.

XXX

She floated in the strange area watching the scenes unfold before her eyes. They seemed detached and unreal and she was not sure why what she was watching seemed so interested in the blond elf and the younger elves that seemed to be his children. There were other elves in the picture too, they seemed somehow related but separate from the blond who seemed the main focus.

There was this strange sensation that she should know more about them - that she should be feeling something about them but no feelings came. Actually, she seemed to be able to feel nothing and was not sure why but thought that wrong. She didn't know why she thought she should be having 'feelings' but it seemed that it should matter more than it did.

She was not sure how she moved but she did and when she did she saw a stunning figure that wove tapestries and they seemed somehow related to her again. The tapestries themselves seemed to move, like the one of a dark haired elleth receiving a wound in the shoulder and that somehow seemed related to the things she had seen.

Then she heard a voice calling her, a lovely voice and she moved to the sound only to see a beautiful face that smiled at her.

**Mithiliel, it is time now, you have resided long enough.**

Suddenly something changed, someone took her wrist and once again, she knew what feeling was. And she knew how those images related to her.

Yes, i am evil.

On the other hand, i have now finished writing the chapters for this wonderful story. Dont worry, it will be a happy ending, as always. BTW, since the last chapter is chapter 30, there is obviously plenty of storyline left as you may now be guessing from that final scene.

GaiaCaecilia


	24. Chapter 24

Grey Dawn 24

Here it is everyone! The chapter where i explain what the hell i'm upto killing Mithiliel off. I hope you appreciate the emotion and humour of this chapter.

Fondest, your evil author, GaiaCaecilia

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The abstract feeling faded and the world and happenings she'd watched disconnectedly faded and she felt her body return to her. Actually, she just felt. It was a strange feeling to have after she had been so emotionless. Suddenly she felt she could understand why the things mattered again.

As her body returned, she felt that she was naked and someone or other took her off to dress or something. True coherency did not return until she sat down on a chair somewhere or other. Across from her was someone male and to her side was another male, this one clearly elven.

The one in front of her looked elven, but felt different. He had long dark brown hair and bottomless grey eyes. Actually, he was very handsome to look at, but there was an aura of power about him that no Elf, even her parents, had ever had. A sneaking suspicion came over Mithiliel as she thought about it and came back to herself; then she remembered her last memory before all the abstract images she had seen and knew exactly who was in front of her.

The Vala, Mandos. Which begged the question as to who the other person was?

Mandos had been watching her silently and as she worked out who he was, he began to speak.

"Mithiliel, Daughter of Elurin and Eglel, adopted daughter of Artanis and Celeborn. Welcome to my Halls." She bowed her head to the deity, not sure what to do. The Vala didn't seem to care and carried on speaking, "You have actually been resident in my Halls for around a century now, and it has come to the time for you to receive your new body. The ellon beside you is your father, Elurin, and he is here because, with your new body, you are leaving my Halls and you need to be provided for here. Your husband, children and the family you know back on Arda remain there as of yet and so you are to go live with your original parents, at least until you set up suitable arrangements for yourself."

Mithiliel nodded at the Vala, who just smiled slightly at her.

"I will leave you two together. Your father knows the way out and will take you out as soon as you are ready. I am sure your reunion will be interesting." The small smile took on a mischievous hint, which totally did _not_ fit the Vala's face.

Once he was gone, Mithiliel looked at the dark-haired ellon next to her. He smiled hesitantly at the daughter he'd never known and had abandoned as an infant. Still not entirely alert, Mithiliel smiled back at him and took the proffered arm as he led her out of the Halls of Death.

XXX

Mithiliel was silent for most of the journey, regaining her bearings taking much time. She was perched behind him on a horse, holding onto her father's waist as they travelled to goodness knows where. Eventually, they reached a large manse-like building. At the door, they were met by another Elf, who seemed to be the dead-ringer of her father. When he saw her, he smiled and drew her into his embrace.

"Mithiliel! You have grown so much since we last saw you. You have more than fulfilled the promise of your infancy." He seemed happy to see her, unfortunately her mouth and expression answered before her brain could intervene. One eyebrow went up cynically.

"What, when you two dumped me in Celebrían's cradle for Ada and Nana to bring up?" Two identical jaws dropped. She was herded into a sitting-room before either spoke again. It was Elured that spoke as Elurin seemed a little shell-shocked.

"Ada and Nana?" he asked curiously.

"Celeborn and Galadriel, Celebrían is my sister." A slight flicker of a grin went across the Elf's face and Mithiliel turn to her father, who looked slightly mutinous. "You didn't think I would refer to you as Ada, did you? It's not like I even knew that they weren't my real parents until I was an adult, less than a decade until I was married, in fact. You can't be jealous over something that was entirely your fault." Elured was biting his lip with a mischievous twinkle in his eye; he apparently was enjoying this little altercation.

"I did that for you! I knew it was not yet your time to leave Arda, but I could no longer remain there, neither could your mother! Eglel's people were leaving Arda and since they had been kind enough to take us in, we could hardly say no, it was not like there was anywhere for us to go!"

"You mean nowhere like Greenwood, Lorien, Imladris, any of the cities in Lindon? All of which would have welcomed you and been most pleased that you were indeed alive. You were aware your nephew rules Imladris; somehow, I think he would have been glad to see you. He sure as hell could have done with some relatives over the years. Thankfully, Eruvion worked out that I was one which meant he at least got some help when needed." Suddenly both twins smiled, though Elured more than his brother, who still look mutinous.

"Eruvion? How is the old boy, I'm guessing that means he survived Doriath, then?"

"Yes, along with my husband and several others." Her uncle raised an eyebrow again.

"And who is your husband out of curiosity?"

"Thranduil, son of Oropher." Both Ellyn snorted with laughter.

"Seriously? You are absolutely going to love your father-in-law, he's a total arsehole."

Mithiliel had been so busy paying attention to her father and uncle that she had failed to notice another dark-haired ellon walk in. She only noticed him now because he whacked Elured on the upside of the head and reprimanded him for his choice of language.

"Mithiliel, meet my father, Dior, son of Beren and Luthien. Ada, meet your granddaughter, Mithiliel, who is also the adopted daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel. And as for language choice, I just thought I should warn her about Oropher, he is a bit of a tw..." Elured didn't get to finish as his father whacked him on the upside of the head again. Mithiliel got the stink of a long running argument.

"Well met, my granddaughter, and pardon your uncle's language. I am sure that you can make up your own mind on the subject of him, though I do advise having one of us with you when you meet him. He can be a bit, err, abrasive." Dior had a pleasant voice and a refined manner. Mithiliel suspected that he was not particularly fond of Oropher, but was too polite to say it.

"I am already aware of my father-in-law's personality problems already; I have heard many stories from both Thranduil and Ivochyl. I do look forward to the opportunity to telling him what his offspring have been doing in his absence, especially his daughter. He will probably not like it very much though he definitely deserves it in light of the way he treated Ivochyl." Dior raised an eyebrow.

"Do I actually want to know?" he asked rhetorically.

Mithiliel was going to like this Elf.

XXX

The next morning, they were just finishing breakfast when a tall elleth with a lovely face and slightly red-tinted blonde hair walked into the room. She was dressed slightly strangely in a style of riding dress like none Mithiliel had ever seen. Her father rose from his chair with a slightly rapt expression and immediately went over to the elleth and kissed her soundly.

"Eglel! I wasn't expecting you until at least lunch time." She nodded, her expression serious.

"I rode through the night with few rests; I wish to meet my daughter." She had a low rich voice with a strange accent on her Sindarin. Elurin didn't hesitate to bring her over to Mithiliel, who rose from her chair to greet her mother.

Mithiliel was slightly taller than the blonde elleth and wasn't really sure how to greet her. Eglel solved the problem by pulling Mithiliel down into a hug and kissing her forehead.

"You are tall, my child. You take after your father more than me, I see. I am sorry that I was unable to be there with your father when you were released, I was visiting my family and received the message too late."

"It does not matter, Naneth, you are here now." Eglel smiled and pulled her daughter back to her and held her close.

"You do not know how long I have longed for you presence to be returned, my dear. I am so glad you are here, my beloved child."

Mithiliel clung to her mother, not entirely sure what to say.


	25. Chapter 25

Sorry this is slightly late, i had essay work. On that subject, do i have any reviewers who can think of any good sources about Livy's account of the rape of Lucretia, or about Romand morals (for women), preferably modern scholarly work? I'm having absolute hell find stuff on the subject.

Grey Dawn 25

Later that day, the rest of Eglel's family, the nomadic tribe which had brought Elurin and Elured up before they had come to Valinor and settled in the house of their father, arrived to meet the Chieftain's granddaughter.

The entire tribe had come and they camped on the lawn of Dior's mansion. It was pretty clear that everyone was used to this, though Mithiliel found it a little weird. She was immediately welcomed amongst the tribes-people, though they did test her skills in both riding and fighting. Her father and grandfather seemed a little surprised at her skill with a blade.

"Ivochyl decided to teach Celebrían and me to keep our minds off the fact they were insisted that we be separated for at least a year during our betrothal. We had plenty of practice time then." Dior smiled, but Eglel and her father frowned slightly.

"Year separated? I fear I do not understand?" he finally asked.

"It is a tradition amongst those who are settled; the couple are expected not to see each other between their betrothal and their marriage and the betrothal time is a minimum of a year," Dior explained.

"Foolishness! We expect the couple to marry within a month of betrothal and there is no separation. What is the point of that?" Mithiliel grinned.

"I have no idea, but I think I prefer your tradition, the time apart was agony even if it did result in us learning to fight." He nodded at her then frowned again.

"Who is this Celebrían, child?"

"Oh, my sister." His eyebrows shot up and he looked at his daughter in surprise, who also looked confused. "No, she is Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel, my foster parents', daughter. We were brought up together and have always considered ourselves sisters. It is good that she is not my blood sister as she is married to my cousin, Elrond, Adar's nephew by his sister." The proverbial inner light went on in her Grandfather's eyes and he nodded.

XXX

Shortly after the tribe had left again to go somewhere, Mithiliel did not know where exactly, life chucked up another surprise for her. One day, she was sitting in the same sitting-room she had first met Dior in, when a tall blonde and rather supercilious Elf was shown in. His clothing was both clearly expensive and clearly the clothing of Greenwood the Great. Elurin's eyes went flat as the Elf entered, though he did not comment, or rise for the guest as was proper.

The Elf nodded his head negligently at her father and bowed a little more at Mithiliel.

"I am told that you, my Lady, are the person my son Thranduil chose to marry. I wished to meet the young elleth my son considered worthy to take to wife, as well as the mother of my grandchildren and heirs." She could already see what her uncle meant about 'up himself'. Oropher had been in the room less than five minutes and she already didn't like him. All the same, she rose and greeted him appropriately.

"It is nice to finally meet, my father-in-law. Thranduil and Ivochyl spoke often of you." A little bit of a lie and some careful misdirection, but that didn't matter. Mithiliel motioned at him to sit on the opposite chair, which he took.

"And how is my wayward daughter? I wonder how she took the death of her husband." He didn't really seem to care all that much.

"I have never met anyone so indifferent to being widowed, though of course he is not her husband anymore." Oropher raised an eyebrow at her, and was obviously surprised. "Haven't you heard yet, I know many of your Lords sailed in protest of Thranduil changing the law so she could divorce her husband and re-marry." Mithiliel saw his jaw work as he tried not to explode, clearly not approving of this.

"And, pray tell, who is the lucky Elf who my daughter chose to replace the one I chose for her, in her best interests?" Resisting the temptation to remind him that Ivochyl hated her husband and he clearly didn't really care about her at all, Mithiliel put on a sweetly polite expression and answered his question.

"Why, Lord Erestor of Imladris. They have three of the loveliest daughters, who are just as outgoing as their parents." Oropher shot to his feet in anger.

"SHE WHAT?" he yelled and glared at Mithiliel.

"She married Lord Erestor of Imladris and has had three lovely girls by him. You should be proud; she is a very proper Lady of Imladris now, as are her daughters."

"Are you stupid, girl? You want me to be _proud_ that my daughter has gone _Noldorin_ and married one of the filthy Kinslaying race, a scribe at best for a filthy half-human upstart, whom the fool Gil-galad was over fond of, and who was clearly warming the High King's bed for favour? My daughter disgraces me with every action. I should have found a way to get rid of her at birth!" he spat, voice rising throughout the diatribe.

Elurin rose from his space next to Mithiliel, who had been about to answer with a sharp comment about actually treating his daughter well if he wanted anything back. Oropher was too busy still ranting about Ivochyl to notice the movement right up to the point Elurin pulled his arm back and punched him in the face. It wasn't a round-house punch, but an over-the-shoulder blow that was substantially more effective. The punch was not for show, it was meant to hurt, and Oropher reeled back, grasping his face.

"Do not insult my daughter or my nephew, Oropher, and never imply that there was anything improper going on with any member of my family. As for Ivochyl, if you had treated her properly and not forced her to marry a little wastrel _shit_ like the one you did, then maybe she would be more inclined to honour you. If you were to trying disowning her, then she would be well rid of you, as would your son. Now. Get. Out. Of. My. House."

Oropher stared at the fuming Elf and turned on his heel, storming out.

After a minute or so of absolute silence Mithiliel spoke,

"I think Uncle Elured was being too kind about him, and rather insulting to arseholes. It would be equally insulting to bastards to call him one of those as well." Elurin took a couple of deep breaths and laughed, softly at first, but that laugh grew into a deep, booming laugh that left him holding his stomach. Eventually, he recovered and pulled his daughter into a hug.

"I do love you, Mithiliel! He has deserved that for far too long. And I will never let anyone harm you or insult you. Now," he held up his hand, which was already swelling up, "I think I need to find a healer, I seem to have damaged my hand." It was Mithiliel who burst out laughing this time.

XXX

Mithiliel stood wrapped in the arms of her father in the Quay, watching the ship come in. A little time ago, she had received a message from the watchtowers that a ship baring Imladris' symbol, the Royal symbol, on its flagpole and knew that she would know whoever was on the ship.

She was not very sure how much time she had spent in Valinor; time seemed immaterial in the Blessed Lands. She wondered who the ship was carrying. She knew Elrond would have never left until the War was dealt with, and the same could probably have been said for the Twins. Surely she would have heard if it had? Not much news got through, but Sauron was a fallen Maia and the death of one such as him would definitely get through.

After what seemed an Age, the ship docked and the gang plank lowered and after a little more time, someone disembarked. It took a few moments for Mithiliel to recognise her and she gasped in shock and horror when she did.

Though physically she was well, Celebrían was utterly changed and not in a good way. There was no longer a healthy glow round her as there normally was around Elves and her skin was almost translucent. The once lively elleth's posture was listless and her eyes dead and she walked lethargically towards the end of the docking pier.

With a cry, Mithiliel broke free of her father's arms and ran to Celebrían and pulled her sister into her arms. Celebrían hugged back tightly, and promptly burst into tears on Mithiliel's shoulders. Mithiliel held her close and felt the coldness of Celebrían's skin against hers and whispered into her sister's ear.

"Oh my, what on Arda happened to you? What is wrong?" Celebrían raised her head and looked into her sister's eyes brokenly.

"Orcs."


	26. Chapter 26

Sorry this is late but your author is feeling distinctly under the weather due to a combo of a cold and the new nasty side-effect inducing steroidy medicine the doctors are giving her for recently diagnosed asthma. Incidently, any of you got any good tips for a really sore throat? mine hurty. O.O

Grey Dawn 26

Mithiliel's heart went out to her sister; it was totally clear why Celebrían was so unwell and why she had come to Valinor. She was fading.

Elurin immediately took the pair back to his house, giving orders for her luggage to be sent there. When they arrived, Mithiliel's family embraced her in all the love and comfort they could give. Eglel came into her own, and somehow her methods of comforting seemed just the things Celebrían needed.

Not long after Celebrían arrived, so did Eglel's tribe and they joined in the comforting. Once Celebrían had been brought back to health enough, they took her and Mithiliel out with them on one of their tours, along with both Mithiliel's father and uncle. That seemed to help as well, though Mithiliel wasn't exactly sure why.

When they returned from that trip, they found some new guests at Dior's mansion house in the form of Finarfin, Galadriel's father. The High King of the Valinorian Noldor was an imposing figure and seemed rather impatient when they arrived. The moment Celebrían walked into the room, he rose and seemed to be holding himself in. Elurin seemed surprised by his presence, but managed to get over himself enough to introduce the elder ellon. As soon as they were over, Finarfin drew Celebrían into his arms and held her close. Eventually he spoke,

"Gaersel, I heard you had come home. I have longed to meet you since I heard of your arrival." Celebrían smiled slightly and looked down shyly. It was not hard to tell why, Finarfin had a serious presence about him he probably didn't even realise was there. His mere existence commanded respect and one almost felt the need to genuflect in his presence. It was not hard to work out where Galadriel had got her presence from. He smiled at Celebrían and as he did so, the perpetual glow that surrounded him grew and Mithiliel caught herself on the verge of genuflection.

At that point, Dior made Mithiliel feel a lot more comfortable by suggesting they sit down. Mithiliel had not even noticed him there behind the awesome presence of Finarfin.

"How is Artanis?" Finarfin asked, only to receive a strange look. He was obviously confused at the confusion of his granddaughter, right until Dior worked out the problem.

"Artanis generally has taken the name Galadriel since her beloved, Lord Celeborn, gave her the name. She hasn't used the name Artanis since long before Celebrían was born." Looks of dawning rose across several people's faces.

"Nana is well, though she struggles as everyone does against the darkness." Finarfin nodded softly, and then noticed Mithiliel and Celebrían's obvious closeness.

"I am sorry; I must have missed something, for I am unaware of the source of you and the Lady Mithiliel's closeness." That had obviously confused the King, though what startled Mithiliel and Celebrían more was the fact the Dior had clearly not explained the relationship.

"Mithiliel is my sister," her eyes flickered upwards shyly "Well, adopted sister, Ada and Nana looked after her after Elurin and Elured left her in my cradle and we refused to be separated." Finarfin seemed surprised at that. Suddenly Celebrían giggled quietly, earning many strange looks. "Oh sorry, it just thought of something amusing, never mind," she said quickly.

"If it's funny, why don't you share it around?" Elured suggested.

"I was just thinking about Ada and Mithiliel. I just remembered when Eruvion worked out who Mithiliel's real father was, well down to the Twins anyway." Suddenly Mithiliel giggled, seeing where her sister's mind was going. "He loves us both equally and completely, and was not too happy at the thought that she might be in any way taken away as his daughter. He can be quiet possessive sometimes. It then occurred to me what it'd be like when he gets to Valinor."

Mithiliel closed her eyes in horror. That was not something she really wanted to think about. The male Elves in the room generally looked confused, though; Elurin also looked rather possessive.

"Mithiliel is _my_ daughter, though!" Both ellyth burst out laughing; Mithiliel was the one to answer,

"I don't think Ada sees it that way, he sees it as you sired me and _he_ brought me up and therefore _he_ is my real father since he did all the work." Elurin glared and neither Mithiliel nor Celebrían could keep a straight face and both burst out laughing, earning a stronger glare. Between laughs, Celebrían managed to speak,

"I *giggle* am absolutely *giggle* going to love *giggle* watching them *giggle* debate the point *giggle* when Ada *giggle* gets here *giggle*." Everyone in the room bar Elurin, who was still glaring hard, laughed simply to see the pair in such high spirits. It was a great improvement on how Celebrían had been when she first arrived in Valinor.

XXX

There was one little problem to deal with after the introduction of Finarfin into their lives and that was the ancient Noldo's own paternalistic instincts. His only child not to return to him after the flight of the Noldor was Galadriel (even if all the others had returned via Mandos' Halls) and Celebrían and, to a lesser extent, Mithiliel was his best link to her.

He wanted Celebrían to come and reside with him, which was a little bit of a problem. He didn't mind Mithiliel living with her father and grandfather, they after all, were her blood relatives, but he thought that Celebrían should live with _her_ blood relatives, not the adopted sister. It took him quiet some effort to grasp that Mithiliel not being a blood relative didn't matter to his granddaughter.

Eventually though, they came to a compromise and Celebrían split her time between the house of Finarfin and the house of Dior, an idea thought of by Eglel, who did the same with her father's tribe and the house of Dior. Finarfin wasn't entirely happy with it, but he knew when he was fighting a losing battle and when to give in. That was why he had remained in Valinor when most of the Noldor fled.


	27. Chapter 27

Sorry its slightly late but in all fairness, your author is fairly, now has no voice (which some might say is an improvement - at least i won't have to speak in that presentation today), and has an essay dealine in approx a week and has only now got a fully approves essay plan back ( i wrote my own title so i had to hand in the essay plan to be read through before doing the essay, which does actually make my essays subsantially better) as well as having to do her bit of aforementioned presentation and reading about the ottoman empire for her middle eastern politics module. Either way, here is the chapter for you all. :D

Grey Dawn 27

Everything settled down in Valinor after that. Over the next several hundred years, or something of that scale – time in Valinor was similar to that of Lorien, a little hard to define and very easy to forget – the only things that were not generally normal life as it had begun to become were the reports they got from the Elves coming to Valinor. Both the Galadhrim and the Imladris Elves reported to Mithiliel and Celebrían with news of the world and their families. Celebrían got rather more personal news than Mithiliel because Thranduil was still keeping Mirkwood isolated from the rest of the world, fighting his war on his own.

It saddened Mithiliel greatly that he was being so insular and she feared he would kill Mirkwood with his actions. In the few times she had the misfortune to come across her father-in-law, he seemed proud of his son's actions, however. The more Mithiliel saw of Oropher, the less she liked him. He did, however, remain _very_ polite round her, though.

XXX

After what was probably 500 years or so after Celebrían's arrival in Valinor, a group of Imladris Elves arrived with fascinating news.

The Elves sat with Celebrían and Mithiliel on the lawn of Finarfin's huge palace talking and telling of the news from the now extremely dark Arda.

They brought news of the strangest story. The first they knew was a group of thirteen Dwarves, Mithrandir and a little Pereniath had gone through Imladris, staying for a while and conferring with Lord Elrond. Before they had got to Imladris, they had already faced Trolls and won, retrieving some old, lost elven weaponry, including the Pereniath getting a short sword called Sting. They had then gone on to be taken by Goblins in the Misty Mountains, freed themselves, with the work of Mithrandir being their saving grace. Eventually they went through the house of Beor the Shape-shifter before going into Mirkwood. At that point in the tale, Mithiliel's breath had caught, hoping for news about her family.

It soon became apparent that, if there was something that could go wrong in Mirkwood for the travellers, then it did. Between the spiders, the enchanted river and her husband, they had done extremely badly. Mithiliel winced slightly to hear that Thranduil had imprisoned the Dwarves, though she was not totally surprised, he had been anti-Dwarf before she had died and with the personality he had shown afterwards, it was only going to have got worse.

She then had to avoid laughing at the tale of how the Halfling had freed his dwarven friends and taken them on to Laketown and then the Misty Mountains, getting rid of Smaug, the dragon who had plagued the area. Both she and Celebrían held their breath as the Elf described what he knew of the Battle of the Five Armies and how Thranduil had actually come out of Mirkwood to support his allies in the human realm and had helped rebuild the destroyed town. Apparently, he was still the Elf she knew, even if his grief did debilitate him and impair his judgement and friendship with realms he needed to be friendly with. Mithiliel suspected if the other realms truly needed him and he was able to help, he still would, if reluctantly. Her eyes burned with grief at the thought of how much pain had been caused by her death.

XXX

A while later, probably a few decades, though it was really hard to tell what the times were, Mithiliel and her sister sat in a similar place, receiving news from another group of Elves who had sailed across from Arda. The spokesperson was a retired soldier from Elrond's own army, who had come after a disabling injury while fighting.

"We are one of the last groups leaving Imladris, Lady, for the settlement is clearing out. There seems to be good news, however. Shortly before we left, Lord Elrond called a Council of the freed people of Arda. Many people came, including the eldest Prince of Mirkwood. It is the first time any of that house, bar the Lady Ivochyl and her children, have been seen since much after your death, Your Majesty. Your son has grown into a strong and powerful warrior, though. Everyone could see his heritage clearly, and his nobility. He also proved that, though no one ever sees the Elves of Mirkwood, well bar the lake people, they are very well informed. Valar only knows how he knew the heritage of Estel, but he did and defended him against the Gondorian, who disbelieved his heritage as a descendant of Elros, of the line of Earendil and Isildur." Mithiliel smiled wistfully, saddened and pleased at the same time to get some news of her family.

Throughout the afternoon, the Elves talked, telling of the forming of the Fellowship and what they knew of its travels as well as what else was going on in Arda. Though she would never admit it, she was scared for Mirkwood even more now, and her eldest son seemed on a suicide mission. She prayed to Eru and the Valar to watch over her family, she could not bear it if they were to come to harm.

XXX

The next bit of news did not come by ship, but by announcement by Eonwë, the messenger of the Valar. There was no doubting whether the event he announced was significant enough to justify the exulted messenger.

That significant announcement was the end of the War of the Ring, the destruction of the One Ring, the fall of Sauron and the return of the King of Gondor and Arnor. It was barely any time after the Elves had come to her with news of her family, that the announcement was made. Mithiliel was desperate for the next set of Elves to come to tell of her family.

She was absolutely desperate to know what had happened to her family, particularly Legolas and her husband.

When news came, it was more amazing than she could hope. Not only were all her family safe, but Thranduil had once again opened borders, letting out his children again and very quickly her children had renewed their acquaintances with people they had not been able to see since their mother's death.

Legolas however managed to do something that shocked everyone. He took many Elves, including his siblings (who had probably gone slightly crazy being confined to Mirkwood for nearly a millennium), away to Ithilien in Gondor to restore the country there. Thranduil was reputedly not happy, seeing the Elves as fading from the world, but he had the sense not to comment _too_ strongly.

The other bit of good news was that Galadriel, Elrond and many other Elves that they all knew were coming to Valinor. Finarfin practically threw a party when he heard his daughter was coming to Valinor. Dior and his sons seemed more interested in Elrond, and possibly more of his family arriving. Celebrían was on both sides of the argument.

The next period of time was one both ellyth were extremely aware of. Neither had counted the days, weeks and months anything like as much as they did for next two years or so until the ship came in.

XXX

Mithiliel stood wrapped in her father's arms, waiting for the great ship to come in. She knew her husband was not on it, she could feel it, but her cousin and Galadriel would be. Celebrían stood beside her, almost bouncing on her toes in anticipation of Elrond and her mother's arrival. On Mithiliel's other side was _her_ mother and her uncle Elured.

Elrond didn't even wait to use to gangplank to get to Celebrían, he just jumped over the side of the ship and pulled Celebrían into a publically inappropriate kiss, much akin to those he had given her when they were courting. Mithiliel watched on in amusement at the sight before Elrond drew away and Celebrían was able to drag him over to Mithiliel. Elrond's eyebrows rose significantly as he saw Mithiliel wrapped in the arms of an ellon.

"Elrond, I think it is probably time to introduce you to your uncles. This is my Adar, Elurin and our uncle Elured." Elrond grinned in understanding and formally greeted the pair, who both brushed off the formality and greeted their newest family member fondly. Mithiliel was about to introduce her mother when Celebrían let out a soft cry, broke free of her husband and ran to the ship. Seeing what her sister was looking at, Mithiliel also broke free of her father and moved over to the ship to greet the elleth coming down the gangplank.

Galadriel was radiant to say the least and very glad to meet her children again. The three embraced each other in tight hugs before going back to the group they had been waiting with. Mithiliel then proceed to do introductions.

"Nana, this is my Ada, Elurin; I think he's grown a little bit since you last saw him." There was the odd laugh at that one, "This is Uncle Elured and this in my Nana, Eglel." Celebrían giggled quietly and Mithiliel looked at her sister with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you know how funny, Nana, meet my Nana sounds?" Mithiliel smiled slightly and rolled her eyes, Celebrían had a point.

"Nana, do you know when Ada is coming to Valinor? Or Thranduil and my children?" Celebrían suppressed another giggle as Galadriel smiled slightly.

"Celeborn and Thranduil are going to be staying in Arda for quite a while; they are highly attached to their forests, I have noticed. Legolas will be coming as soon as Estel dies; your daughters, I have no idea when they are planning to come and the same applies to your youngest. The same applies to Elladan and Elrohir, but Arwen is never going to come, she married Estel and chose mortality." The last part was said fairly fast and more than a touch of grief to it. Mithiliel's eyes widened as did Celebrían's. Once again her father's arms tightened round her waist and his head rested on her shoulder comfortingly. He had heard about the assorted children of his daughter, sister and her sister-in-law and understood how much loosing even one would hurt her.

"Maybe we should go somewhere more quiet and private to talk about it?" Mithiliel nodded mutely, still shocked that Arwen would not be coming to Valinor. Before they could go, the rest of the party on the boat had to be dealt with. And there were two more greetings to do, two people who had been greeting other people first.

"Ivochyl, Erestor!" Celebrían called as the pair came over from meeting Erestor's parents. Both were smiling gently, though they were also noticeably lacking children.

"Mithiliel, Celebrían, it's good so to see you!" Ivochyl then raised an eyebrow at the Elves with them that they didn't know, and so went another round of introductions. Then came another point.

"Where is my oh-so-beloved father? I'm not complaining at his absence, but I am a little surprised," Ivochyl asked, looking round.

"He refused to come because of Erestor. I told him the whole saga of what happened shortly after I got here. He was not pleased." Mithiliel was smiling slightly at the memory. Both parts of the couple each raised one expressive eyebrow at her.

"I'm guessing there is a story I should know here?" Ivochyl asked. It was Elurin that answered.

"Oh, when he heard that you had divorced that little moron he apparently forced you to marry and gone and married a Noldor he was singularly unfond of, he got a bit angry. He's obviously never heard the phrase 'don't shoot the messenger' and I decided he could do with a lesson in politeness, especially when it came to talking to my daughter and punched him in the face. He wasn't very amused, but he _did_ stop being nasty to Mithiliel." The eyebrows of everyone, bar those who already knew about the incident, had been steadily rising throughout the story and at the last sentence Ivochyl (and one or two others) burst out laughing.

"I could get to like him, Mithiliel. The fun bit will be when Celeborn gets here." Everyone who had been there for the outburst of Celeborn's when Thranduil had come to Lorien to ask for Mithiliel's hand so long ago closed their eyes in horror. That would be a very interesting meeting, to use a certain amount of understatement.

"I have heard of the Lord's opinions on the subject and while I am extremely grateful for him and the Lady bringing her up for me, Mithiliel is _my_ daughter." There was absolutely no missing the possessiveness in his voice.

"You know, if you wanted to, you could play up their apparent competition and do really well out of it, Mithiliel." Ivochyl grinned. Mithiliel rolled her eyes and laughed.

She didn't even want to think about _that_.


	28. Chapter 28

Grey dawn 28

Finarfin, to say the least, was over the moon at Galadriel's arrival. He was also just a trifle possessive. Mithiliel absently sent another thanks to the Valar that Celeborn wasn't here because that had nearly as much potential to be messy as Elurin meeting Celeborn.

Galadriel's arrival also resulted in several other embarrassing side effects, mostly that she could tell Mithiliel's parents all Mithiliel's embarrassing baby stories, of which there turned out to be many. Elurin and Eglel listened with a mix of amusement and wistfulness, both pleased to hear about how their daughter had been as a child and sad at having to hear about things they had missed.

At first, Celebrían had teased Mithiliel outrageously about the stories, until Galadriel informed her that she would _also_ be telling Finarfin Celebrían's embarrassing baby stories, as per request. At that point, Celebrían joined Mithiliel in the 'wishing the floor would swallow them up' camp.

One of the funniest things to happen was when Oropher and Ivochyl did finally meet again, a couple of months after her arrival. It was not what one would refer to as an amicable meeting. Especially since Ivochyl's ex-husband was with her father when they came across each other.

At that point, Oropher was still trying to ignore the fact his daughter had arrived in Valinor as an excuse for not talking to her. Erestor and Ivochyl had decided to go up the cliffs that overlooked the sea that surrounded Valinor so they could have a nice, quiet romantic time. While they were there, being gooey, by complete coincidence, Oropher and Saerwedh (AN: Ivochyl's ex-husband for all who forgot) walked up with Cuvrannon, Thranduil and Ivochyl's brother, following the pair.

Mithiliel had met Cuvrannon, though not Saerwedh, and hadn't taken to the Elf at all. He was rigidly conservative and though he appeared to be like his brother physically, personality wise he was much more like his father. He followed exactly what his father said in everything and though he was hard and unbending in many ways, he was very weak when it came to what his father wanted.

When Oropher had seen his oldest child, he had no choice but to greet her cordially, if icily. Saerwedh had then tried to pull her to him and kiss her, but had been violently repelled. By the time he had recovered from the shove that had nearly sent him over the cliff, Erestor had Ivochyl back in his grasp and a long poniard drawn from underneath his robes. He may have looked like a scholar, but he was far from defenceless.

Cuvrannon had also drawn a blade, though one recognisably as of Greenwood make. Oropher was apparently unarmed. All three blonde Sindars stood there facing the couple with harsh expressions on their faces. Saerwedh was the first to speak,

"Why are you letting this Noldor touch you, Ivochyl? You are _mine_; my _wife_. You have already taken overlong returning to me and you then you dishonour me by letting a Kinslayer touch you. The fact that you let him touch you _intimately_..." He didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Just in case you haven't heard, I _divorced_ you. You know, this thing called the legal ending of a marriage. I am not _your _anything." By this point, all three Sindars' eyes were popping out in shock. Ivochyl smiled sweetly at the trio. "Incidentally, meet my husband, Lord Erestor of Imladris and Tirion, of the House of Ecthelion of the Fountain." She then rather pointedly kissed her husband on the lips. Saerwedh very nearly had apoplexy. Oropher, forewarned of this, was thankfully rather calmer and, therefore, so was Cuvrannon.

Oropher had maintained an urbane expression, though his eyes had gone flat and his jaw had tensed. Once Saerwedh's fit had quietened enough, he talked, ignoring the Elf beside him, who apparently he did not really care for much himself. One really had to wonder why he had married Ivochyl to an ellon he apparently held in contempt.

"Dior's granddaughter informed me of this fact; as a matter of interest, how are your daughters? And where are they, I haven't heard of them coming to Valinor." Both Ivochyl and Erestor were a little surprised by her father's awareness of her family.

"The girls remained in Arda for the time being. Most of them are living in Ithilien with their cousins, Mithiliel and Thranduil's two sons and twin daughters. My eldest, Gelluivil, however recently married Elladan, the eldest son of Lord Elrond and lives with him and his brother in Imladris as Lady of the Household. Last time I checked, the younger two were courting Elves in the new colony, which is a mixture of Sindar, Noldor and the odd Silvan, though there aren't so many Silvan left. Some Elves went there from all the realms, though most from Eryn Lasgalen." A slight frown crossed Oropher's face.

"Eryn Lasgalen?"

"Greenwood the Great, Ada darling. What Thranduil and Celeborn renamed it when Thranduil finally grew up and remembered the rest of the world existed." Oropher nodded then another frown crossed his face.

"Did you just say you eldest married Elladan, son of Lord Elrond?" he asked. Ivochyl grinned broadly, knowing it would irritate her father, and nodded.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Erestor asked, up to that point having been silent. Oropher looked at Erestor with an expression that, though it wasn't a glare exactly, could definitely kill slowly and painfully.

"Oh, only the fact that, not only has my daughter gone and married one of the _Kinslayers_, but then gone and let her daughter, my granddaughter – who is apparently already a half-breed, as if that wasn't bad enough – marry a _part human_ son of Ereinion Gil-galad's _bed-warmer_!" Oropher had begun simply coolly, but finished in a venomous hiss, eyes narrowed as he glared at Erestor.

Throughout his father-in-law's diatribe, Erestor had not moved at all. Up till that point, Ivochyl had not noticed that he had put his knife away and only did so then because her father creased up as Erestor, expression still not changing, had thumped her father in the stomach. In a flurry of moves, the blonde Elf had been lifted off his feet and thrown into the other two, knocking all three off the cliff. None of them died on the way down, there were no rocks at the bottom of that bit of cliff, but it took all three a _very_ long time to swim back to land.

Mithiliel only knew all this because, once they had got back, Oropher had come looking for his daughter and husband, who had been round Mithiliel's house at the time. After a minute or so of shouting and general unpleasantness from the Sindar King, Elured and Dior lifted him under each arm and carried the Elf out of the house, parked him on the horse, and whacked the animal on the behind, sending it down the front path and away from the house.

Once Erestor and Ivochyl had got over their near hysterical laughter, they had explained what had come before.

XXX

Aside from the amusing conflict between Ivochyl and her father, little seemed to happen in Valinor and everything settled down. One of the things Mithiliel found the strangest was the drying up of news from the mainland. Most of the Elves that were going to come at the end of the War already had and the rest were concerned with their lands and would remain for some time yet, so very few arrived in Aqualondë.

After a few years, they had mostly given up on news from Arda and had gotten on with their lives, absently hoping occasionally that their offspring would arrive.

XXX

After over a hundred years, though, one of the Elves of the elven harbour rode up to the house of Dior, looking surprised. The news he carried was of a large ship of strange design sailing towards the harbour. It was neither elven in nature, by now they could easily recognise any work from Mithlond, nor human, but somewhere in between. It had flown the flags of Eryn Lasgalen, Imladris and Ithilien at the same time, and so they had contacted both Mithiliel and Elrond's family to tell of the arrival.

Celebrían, who now lived with Elrond, who had built (and had much help from his former citizens building) a home for them near Tirion, looked at her sister in surprise. The combined flags of the three realms could only mean...


	29. Chapter 29

Sorry its late again, had essay for due for monday to do. Of which i've just lost the last hour and a half/ two hours worth of work on due to the fact that the doc being downloaded from the internet meaning the comp couldn't recover it. I b***y well hate computer right now. 'Scuse you author's bad language, she is very annoys, esp as all those books weigh a ton!

Anyway... On with the story...

Grey Dawn 29

The ship, as the messenger said, was slightly strange in design, though still had elven grace. One of the most noticeable differences was that, unlike the ships of Mithlond, it was made of a dark wood that was more common to human ships. Whatever the design, though, it sailed through the water as beautifully as the ships Cirdan and his apprentices made.

Other than Mithiliel and her family, there were several others waiting at the pier for the ship to come in. Mithiliel smiled as the ship came closer and she was able to see several of the Elves on the deck, including her sons, standing at the bow of the ship. Elurin held her tight as he felt her reaction to the Elves on board. Without realising it, she held her breath, anticipating who else might be on board.

"Breath, Mithiliel, it helps," her father whispered in her ear. She laughed slightly and began breathing again. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the boat actually reached the dock and Elves, many of whom Mithiliel recognised, began throwing ropes over to the waiting ellyn, who helped moor the boat. Then a large gangplank was lowered and several Elves disembarked.

The first one off was Anfaron. Mithiliel broke away from her father and ran forward to be pulled into an embrace by her youngest child, who held her like there was no tomorrow, shaking hard. Shortly after, Mithiliel and Anfaron were encased in another set of arms. Mithiliel didn't need to look up; she could sense that it was her elder son who held them. Legolas was also shaking hard. It was hard to miss her children's raw emotions at the meeting.

Just as she was drawing away from her sons' tight embrace, having failed to notice several other Elves disembark, she turned to see Tinnuchíl and Ivrengelair disembark with two ellyn Mithiliel didn't recognise. When the girls saw their mother, they broke away from the ellyn and ran to hug her as well and the five Elves, Mithiliel and her children, stood there in one tight embrace, quivering with raw emotion.

Eventually, they let go and Mithiliel led them to the shore and her family. Ivochyl was standing there, clasping her two younger daughters to her with Erestor holding his women-folk to him. Celebrían stood wrapped in Elrond's embrace, watching the two emotional reunions, her face slightly wistful. Neither of her sons had come with the party, though she might get news of them from Mithiliel and Ivochyl's children.

From the sides, Galadriel, Finarfin, Elured, Elurin, Eglel and Dior were all watching the reunion as well. If any of them felt anything at the conspicuous absences from the party that had arrived, then they didn't show it. Suddenly, there was a sharp intake of breath and Galadriel grinned uncharacteristically. In confusion, Mithiliel looked where her foster mother was looking and her eyes widened in surprise. Down the gangplank came a singularly decrepit-looking Dwarf, who was grumbling about 'prissy Elves forgetting his old bones' under his breath. Legolas suddenly laughed and broke away from the family embrace to go to the Dwarf and help him off the boat.

Mithiliel's and several others' eyebrows rose into their hairline, though noticeably none of the Elves who had come with Galadriel and Elrond seemed all that surprised. Legolas, grinning at everyone's expressions, brought the Dwarf forward.

"Nana, meet Gimli, son of Gloin." Mithiliel greeted the old Dwarf cordially, and then gave her son an intensely curious look. Galadriel was the one to assuage her curiosity.

"Remember I told you about the Dwarf he made friends with on the Ring Quest?" Mithiliel nodded, and then understanding hit her. She had almost forgotten that Galadriel had said her son fully intended to bring the Dwarf along as well. The Pereniath that had been brought with Elrond and Galadriel had been weird enough. On the other hand, the stories of her husband's reaction to his eldest making friends with a Dwarf were highly amusing. Mithiliel couldn't wait to find out what Oropher's reaction would be. She, Ivochyl and Celebrían took morbid amusement in the things that sent that particular Sindar King into fits of horror.

Soon they got on to introducing Mithiliel's parents and grandfather to her children and that resulted in more interesting moments, especially the bit were her daughters introduced the ellyn they had arrived with. Mithiliel had to laugh at the protective looks that crossed both Dior's and Elurin's faces as they introduced their husbands. Elured found it even more amusing than her uncle did.

Then Tinnuchíl decided to make life even more amusing by announcing that she was pregnant. All of the women-folk buried their heads in their hands as they saw the collective click in the minds of the males present that signified that _all_ of them would be annoyingly protective. Eglel looked up at her granddaughter and spoke softly,

"I should warn you that your grandfather and great uncle will treat you as if you are made of glass and are totally incapacitated by your condition now they know that, and I suspect that your great grandfather will as well. They were both absolute nightmares when I was pregnant with Mithiliel." Tinnuchíl smiled slightly and laughed nervously. Apparently she was quite unsure about the new developments.

XXX

All of Mithiliel's children were housed in the house of Dior at first, though both her daughters' husbands started work of houses of their own fairly nearby as soon as possible, Tinnuchíl's particularly wanting to make sure he had a good home for his wife and child before the baby came along. Thankfully for both, many other Elves were willing to help in exchange for stories of Arda in the Fourth Age. Apparently it was a source of major interest.

Tinnuchíl herself was, it turned out, very scared of her first birth and was extremely grateful for the presence of her mother, grandmother and foster grandmother to calm her and reassure her about the process.

Gimli was an interesting presence, who was also house in the house of Dior, and suddenly they began to receive a greatly increased number of visits from Galadriel's older brother, Finrod Felagund. He had died in the First Age, but had made friends with the Dwarves of the Age, hence the name Felagund, which the Dwarves had given him. He was absolutely fascinated by the one member of the race to reach Valinor.

The other interesting visit received because of the Dwarf in residence was that of Aulë himself, who wanted to meet the one member of the race he had created to carry on his crafts. Absently Mithiliel wondered what the presences of the other Valar were like, as she noticed that Aulë had an even strong presence than that of Finarfin. She hadn't realised it was possible to have a stronger presence than the Noldor King; she hadn't been entirely awake the one time she had been round Mandos.

XXX

Tinnuchíl, Mithiliel and Ivrangelair were wondering round the new house Tinnuchíl's husband had build, looking round at the large spacious rooms that were very open and airy. It still needed decorating and furnishing, but the furniture was already being made in a workshop, so they should be able to have the house ready shortly before Tinnuchíl was due to go into labour, in about a month's time.

As they were walking out of the house and around the grass land outside, planning how to do the gardens nicely, Tinnuchíl just stopped and clasped her swollen stomach before screaming, her legs buckling.

Ivrangelair went white and she looked completely lost. Mithiliel swore, immediately knowing the problem, and wrapped her arms round her daughter, gently lowering her to the ground. She then tried to calm her clearly terrified daughter.

Tinnuchíl's husband came running up to them, white as a sheet, weapon drawn.

"What's wrong? Why did you scream?" he asked breathlessly. Mithiliel looked up at him with a hard expression.

"Put that knife away and help me get her into the house, she's gone into labour."


	30. Chapter 30

Here it is! The last one.

Timed perfectly to go with me finishing an essay! Woohoo! Only 3 more to go...

sigh...

Grey Dawn 30

Tinnuchíl's husband stared stupidly at his mother-in-law in pure undiluted shock.

"But... she's not due for another month yet," he said dumbly.

"Babies work to their own time scale and this one wants to come _now_! Now pick her up and carry her into the house, it's better than her giving birth out here, where we can't get her to a proper place for her to birth," Mithiliel snapped, admittedly but she was rather worried about her daughter.

Seeming to snap out of his shock, the Elf went over and lifted his wife into his arms and almost ran to the house. When he had actually got into the main room, he stood around looking lost again. With a frustrated sigh, Mithiliel removed her own cloak and rolled it into a pillow then use both daughters' cloaks to provide some sort of mattress for Tinnuchíl to lie down on. Once he had laid his wife down on the makeshift mattress, he regained the lost expression and Mithiliel rolled her eyes and snapped at him,

"For Valar's sake, go get a bloody healer and try and get as many supplies as you can. Ivrengelair and I will attend her until someone more qualified arrives." He nodded and ran out, clearly out of his depth and in need of some direction.

Once he had gone, Mithiliel returned to calming her daughter and doing as much as she could to make things better.

Mithiliel wasn't sure how long it took for anyone to turn up, but her daughter had had several contractions and was far into labour by the time both Elrond and Galadriel turned up, both thankfully armed with supplies to help out, including a calming draught for the totally terrified Tinnuchíl.

As the two got to work, Tinnuchíl looked up at them weakly.

"Where is..." She trailed off before letting out another scream as a contraction came on. Once the contraction had passed, Galadriel smiled and answered, knowing what was being asked.

"Your brothers are keeping him distracted; he seems to be having trouble right now." Tinnuchíl looked up at the Lady with a confused look.

"Trouble? He's not the one giving bir..." She screamed again as Galadriel laughed. Once the contraction died down, she answered that comment.

"All males seem to have serious trouble when their wives give birth; I've never entirely worked out why." The smile that began to form at the comment faded into yet another scream before Elrond commented,

"We are worried for our wives, yet we know there is absolutely nothing we can do. It is one of the rare points of our lives when we're totally surplus to requirements and males sort of have trouble dealing with having no purpose." That response had been punctuated by two screams as contractions had come on. After that, there was little space for conversation as by now, the contractions were too close together and the baby had almost arrived.

Only a few minutes later, the baby actually came and was washed then wrapped in a blanket Galadriel had brought with her and was then handed to Tinnuchíl. The elleth simply breathed deeply for several minutes as she observed her child with a gentle, if tired, expression. She pulled back the cloth from the side of the baby's face and kissed its forehead. Eventually, she looked back up at the Elves around her.

"Elrond, do you have anything for sore throats?" Mithiliel burst out laughing. Only her daughter would ask that just then.

XXX

Everyone was duly delighted at the birth, though many were worried about the effect of premature births, worries that proved unfounded as Tinnuchíl's new son was a healthy, cheerful baby whose smile lit up the room and he had the most delightful chuckle that made everyone feel happy just for having heard it.

Like his mother, he had dark hair and deep green eyes that were always watching the world around him curiously. Legolas seemed particularly enamoured by his little nephew and held him close frequently. Mithiliel was forcefully reminded of how the Twins had been when he had been born and had to smile at the memory of so long ago. Then a lump formed in her throat as she almost turned to tell Thranduil and laugh at the memory with him then remembered that her husband wasn't there.

She had to make a quick exit so people didn't see her tears. Thranduil really should have been there for the birth of his first grandchild and it pained Mithiliel for him not to be there. She knew how much the birth would mean to him.

XXX

Mithiliel stood on the edge of the cliff, near the place Ivochyl and Erestor had met Oropher so long ago, watching the horizon. She had sneaked away from her family, who were all fussing her grandchild excessively. She loved the baby as much as the rest, but had needed a rest from it all, as did Tinnuchíl, she suspected.

There had been another reason for her to come to the cliff-edge to watch the sea, and that had been the growing sensation in her heart. She had waited a thousand years to feel what she was feeling now. She smiled and curled up in the arms of her eldest son, who had come up behind her and hugged her as she had been watching the sea.

"Nana, what is it? Something has happened, hasn't it?" He whispered softly.

"Yes, your father has finally taken to ship and is sailing here right now; I can feel it in my heart." He let out a soft, joyful sound and held his mother closer. They stood there watching the sea, sharing in their joy, knowing that finally, their family would be complete again.

XXX

Mithiliel hadn't wanted to wait at the docks of Aqualondë for her beautiful husband to return and instead stood on the cliffs overlooking the port. It was virtually dusk and she held next to her a pole with a large lamp hung on it. She could see the lamps on the white ship as the boat neared the harbour and smiled as her heart filled even more, the closer her husband got. The other Elves were waiting down in the harbour, for the other people on the boat that they knew, but Mithiliel had wanted privacy.

She leant on the pole that she stood beside and watched the boat dock and several figures disembark. Some were blonde, there was the silver hair of Celeborn, which she would recognise anywhere – she dreaded to think what some of the meetings between him and some of the Elves she knew were down at the dock would be like! There was also the dark heads of the Peredhil Twins and Ivochyl's eldest daughter.

She knew that they might be a little offended that she wasn't at the docks herself to greet all of them, but this was something she needed to do as she watched the groups mingle. One blonde head, the head of a person she knew very well, pushed through, and though he kept being intercepted, it was clear he was looking for someone who wasn't around and was trying to free himself from the group.

Eventually, he succeeded and soon he left Mithiliel's line of vision. She smiled slightly and absently securing the pole she was holding so it would stand on its own, she wanted her hands entirely free for this meeting. As she waited, she idly watched the interaction of the people at the port. Even from up here you could feel the raw emotion of some of those reunions that were going on.

Then she felt a pair of strong arms round her and a head resting on her shoulder.

"My light," he whispered into her ear and kissed just below the lobe very softly. She turned and curled into his arms and buried her head in his shoulder.

"Thranduil, I have waited so long to see you again. I've missed you," she whispered back. They stood there, in that tight embrace for some time before Thranduil pulled back and smiled at her with that same roguish grin she remembered from their first meeting. His eyes then flickered up at the now dark sky above them.

"The stars do indeed shine upon this meeting, my beloved, and now we are reunited, the sun shall rise again in my heart, not the dark, grey dawn that has come for each day since I lost you." Mithiliel smiled up at her husband, as much love filling her gaze as possible and she kissed his lips, feeling that the sun would again rise within their hearts now that both their lives were finally complete.

Thranduil returned the kiss passionately and his hands ran over her body as his lips caressed hers.

"I love you, Mithiliel," he whispered and their hearts sang together.

THE END!

...

Yes, yes, i know, you were all looking forward to some familial fireworks but i wanted to do this nice gooey ending, anyone who has read my other stories would know that i'd always have something like that scene at the end but i think it makes a nice ending.

Anyway, next story to come out, which will be turning up soon-ish (probably after the 22nd of March, the latter of the next two deadlines) which i've already started writing. That one is actually set in the David Eddings universe he uses for the Elenium and Tamuli trilogies, this story being a sequel. I am assured by Rumrum that it is totally understanable even if you have never read any of the relevant books. Probably slightly MSish.

Basic plotline - the child goddess Aphrael decides that the three main batchelors left at the end of the Tamuli need wives and, since there don't seem to be an appropiate in that world, to bring them from our world. Any readers of the dawnstar epic series will easily recognise the three girls as Ginny, Eleanor and Charlotte, who are all real people and reacon that the characters are scarily realistic, Ginny and Charlotte (aka Sophie and Fran in this story) read through it. Anna is me (as was Eleanor). Apparently the story have them both in hysterics. It is both a comedy and romance and generally an exercise in fun. Though not Lord of the Rings, if you like my already posted stories, you'll like this one.

BTW, the story is called 'Aphrael Strikes Again' which probably gives you an idea what its like. :D

Your faithful authoress,

Gaia_Caecilia.


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